Natalie Bruvels
When I was 10 years old I found a book, carefully hidden, in my mother’s closet. It was the first time that I saw an image of a naked woman. I say naked, and not nude, because I find there is a distinction between the two. The rawness of the term fascinates me. Nude, seemed too formal, too elegant for these women. Naked, on the other hand is informal and without borders. It was this attraction to the rawness of the naked female body that pushed me towards painting.
There was only one problem. I had never painted anything before. In fact, I had never even studied fine arts in school. So where did that leave me? At first I thought there was never even going to be a beginning. I slowly acquired some paint, some canvas and some courage. Quietly, the strokes began to work themselves out. The women began to take form and their nakedness would suddenly erupt from the surface.
My paintings show the naked female body in the splendor of its natural distortion. Flesh moves from one extreme to the other. Bones twist and gesticulate slowly. Blood ebbs and flows as can never be helped. They are, I think, women as seen through the eyes of another.
