Picture This

There was an editorial in the New York Times last week entitled, The Nude Selfie Is Now High Art.

Before we go any farther, I should point out it was published on 4/20. I think by now even my mom knows 420 is a number associated with marijuana culture. So note that a piece on ‘high’ art was published on 4/20.

But let’s get back to the nude selfie part and what makes it art, high or not.

The author contends self-isolation has led many of us to a monogamous sex life.

Skype or Zoom or Facetime with a willing partner can add a little flair, but all this social distancing is leaving a whole lot of folk as basically masters of their own domain, as Seinfeld once put it.

Making do on our own involves more imagination and less actual touching of another person. Nude selfies from friends could only help, I guessing.

The article quotes one dude who apparently wakes up in the morning to nude pictures posted to him or to his accounts on certain social media.

He’s quoted as saying, “I keep getting explicit photos from people I thought were just my friends. It’s nice to know they’re thinking of me.”

Really!? That’s really a thing?

The author of this article is apparently a learned lady when it comes to art. There’s all kinds of trying to make the idea work by comparing the nude selfie to some famous artists’ self portraits.

The point of her piece is summed up thusly:

“…nude selfies have become one symbol of resilience, a refusal to let social distancing render us sexless. Nude selfies are no longer foreplay, a whetting of a lover’s appetite, but the whole meal.”*

I’m all in for fresh ideas, so I decided to try an experiment. I took a nude photo of myself and sent it to someone who hasn’t seen me naked in years.

My wife.

“This ain’t no appetizer, baby!” I wrote. “This is the whole meal.

Apparently, she decided now would be a great time to go on a diet.

*The Nude Selfie Is Now High Art, an editorial by Diana Spechler, published 4/20/200 by The New York Times