Photographer Greg Gorman Does an About-Face With New Focus on Nudes

It’s not as if photographer Greg Gorman is trying to escape from his identification with personality portraiture. After all, Gorman has built a valuable reputation and career these last 10 years with formal studies of some famed and notorious faces.

His just-published first book, “Greg Gorman: Volume One,” is a document to that, with a small chapter in the back reserved for his recent work with nude figures. But those arriving at the G. Ray Hawkins Gallery for Gorman’s first major local exhibition might be surprised to find that his portraits of such figures as Andy Warhol, Bette Davis and Tom Waits are dominated by his lesser-known nude works.

“I enjoy doing nudes,” Gorman said, standing on the concrete floor at the Santa Monica gallery in blue jeans and a T-shirt. “And I felt it was important I do more personal work than just my celebrity portraiture. I’ve always been interested in personalities, per se, because I love people’s faces. But I’m also interested in the human form.”

Most of the nudes were created within the past two years, photographed between personality assignments under natural light at his West Hollywood studio. Many of the black and white works are portraits in themselves, including two of the imposing, chiseled figure of actress Brigitte Nielsen. And a six-panel series on model Tony Ward captures the male form in various stages of dynamic movement, like some updated version of an Eadweard Muybridge photographic motion study.

Still, Gorman’s show offers several examples of the work that has made him in high demand at a variety of magazines, film studios and advertising agencies. An understated portrait of David Hockney shows the artist, in polka-dotted bow tie and cuffed corduroys, leaning forward in a rocking chair and obscuring his own face with a baseball cap. Nearby, a photograph of singer Michael Jackson under a black veil re-creates a similarly dark 1924 image by Edward Steichen of actress Gloria Swanson.

“Primarily, most of my work is fairly premeditated,” said Gorman, 41, an admirer of photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. “I know, going into a photo session, what I’m going to do, although things always develop, change and progress during that time, as in any creative endeavor.”

Gorman said he doesn’t necessarily see the new book and exhibition as marking the beginning or end of any discernable phase of his career. Since leaving Kansas City and earning a cinematography degree at USC, Gorman has merely been working on establishing his style.

“I’m still doing similar things, but changing in certain areas,” he said. “If anything, I’m probably loosening up a little bit. I’m making the portraits a little less staid, a little less rigid and a little more open. Everybody’s going to grow.”

Photography by Greg Gorman, through Sept. 5, G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, 910 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica; (213) 394-5558. Open 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

WALKING THE LINE: There is little denying the infinite number of art careers that began quietly with some well-placed scratches on paper. And this month, the Richard-Bennett Gallery brings 22 local artists back to that intimate, early stage with an all-drawing exhibition called “Drawing the Line.”

Most of the 24 works offer the traditional elements of pen, pencil and paper. But some in the group, which includes Tim Rollins, Raymond Pettibone, Jacci Den Hartog and Jorge Pardo, have opted to reinterpret the simple art form.

Among the non-traditional drawings is Steve DeGroodt’s “Digging Stick,” which incorporates wire mesh into a charcoal and paper work. And Scott King’s “Lifted,” which was created especially for the show, reveals a message on typewriter correction tape mounted on paper.

“Our focus really these days has been much more toward object-oriented work,” said Dominica Salvatore, the gallery’s associate director. “So this is sort of bringing it down to a much more intimate level.”

Salvatore added that a majority of the artists in the show no longer use drawing as a means of public expression. The exhibition offered these artists an opportunity to reveal a quieter side to their work.

“We wanted to make a more personal, low-key show for the summer, which included works with artists we’ve had interest in for a while,” she said. “And drawing is a very personal statement.”

Drawings by 22 local artists, through Sept. 8, Richard-Bennett Gallery, 830 N. La Brea Ave., L.A.; (213) 962-8006. Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

A GIRL OF 60: The joke’s unintentional, of course, but most cartoon characters never seem to age anywhere near as fast as their creators. That may have occurred to veteran animator Grim Natwick on Wednesday night. The co-creator of Betty Boop was to celebrate his 100th birthday at a gallery saluting the ageless image of the chanteuse heroine.

The Circle Gallery in Beverly Hills is showing a variety of works depicting Betty Boop, first drawn in 1930. The show includes signed color and black and white lithographs by Natwick and nearly 100 animation cels from an early 1980s television revival.

“She was the first female cartoon character that was provocative,” said Marc Subias, director of animation art at the gallery. “She was curvy and sexy and saucy. She had a little wink. But at the same time, she was so innocent. She was a sexy heroine, and that was kind of a new thing for everybody.”

The Circle Gallery, which owns 38 stores nationwide, has devoted a sizable amount of wall space to animation since 1974. Subsequent years have offered paintings, drawings and animation cels from Disney, Hanna-Barbera and famed Warner Bros. animators Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.

Subias said its clientele of fine art collectors, who have been attracted by Circle Gallery shows of Peter Max, LeRoy Neiman and, soon, Victor Vasarely, have often become interested in the animation exhibitions.

“It’s more difficult to turn an animation collector into a fine art collector,” Subias said. “But our fine art collectors recognize the importance of animation and will quite often attend the show, pleasantly surprised, and end up acquiring several animation cels.”

Artwork of cartoon character Betty Boop, including lithographs by co-creator Grim Natwick, through August, Circle Gallery, 329 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills; (213) 273-1461. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.