LIFE
Naked brunch

A group of nicely-dressed diners arrived at a NYC restaurant on a cold February night and stripped off their coats, hats, gloves and scarves.

Then they kept on going. Skirts, shirts, pants, underwear and stockings all ended up stashed in bags by the bar as the dinner party got naked for their monthly "Clothing Optional Dinner."

"It's exciting to be in a restaurant nude," said George Keyes, a retired English teacher. Nude yes, but not unadorned. Keyes, a lifelong nudist, wore a necklace, earrings, and white sneakers.

The dinner was started by a group of New York nudists who wanted something a bit more posh than wilderness getaways and beach resorts.
[Source: Reuters]

LIFE
Strip club art

Meanwhile, back in Idaho...

A strip club in Boise, Idaho has found an artful way to prance past a city law that prohibits full nudity. On what it calls Art Club Nights, the Erotic City strip club charges customers $15 -- for a sketch pad and pencil.

In 2001 the Boise City Council passed an ordinance banning total nudity in public unless it had "serious artistic merit" -- an exemption meant to apply to plays, dance performances and art classes.

Erotic City owner Chris Teague said he got the idea when a customer asked if he could get in for free to sketch the dancers.

Realizing that "art classes" were exempt from the law, Teague decided to bill Mondays and Tuesdays as art nights. "We have a lot of people drawing some very good pictures," he says. Er, yes, but is it art?
[Source: Reuters]

NB: The header image is from an upcoming exhibit by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gagosian Gallery, London. But the question still stands...

Shown/header image: "Hannah," (2004)
Fuji Crystal Archive print mounted on Dibond
60 x 39-13/16 ins.
Ed. of 8
Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Read more real-life odd news, in the FEB/MAR 2005 issue of "Arte Six."