Naked Pieces of You Clinic
ABOUT
Naked Pieces of You Clinic (NPYC) is the art studio of Ruth Fox, in Cliftonville, Margate, in which she paints or draws figurative and abstract portraits of both women and men. It is modelled on the idea of a clinic, replacing the role of doctor and patient with that of artist and muse.
NPYC is also a constantly evolving artwork, in and of itself, offering a space for the body to perform as a subject - both individually and collectively - as the artwork's narrative evolves. It initially started as a diversity campaign (see 'Background' below)
CONCEPT
Ruth perceives that we rely heavily, if not wholly, on mirrors and photographs to see and make sense of our physical identity. Both the mirror and the reflective image are intangible replications or simulations of our actual physical bodies and selves - “second-hand experiences of the body”. Here, both mirror and reflected image often result in cradling or hurting the ego.
Instead, Ruth perceives a more accurate way of seeing the body, which is to look at its physicality right in front of our eyes, a “first-hand primal viewing the body” - something we rarely do. This very primal manner of looking at and experiencing the body, arms, legs, hands and toes in this often foreshortened way reveals our physical selves as fragments of a whole, made up of lines, shapes, planes and contours, and this is how Ruth sees the body of a life model as she paints or draws them. She also suggests that this way of viewing the body is far more beneficial to the mind's eye.