UNTITLED

As a kid growing up in L.A. in the 1970s, I always assumed it would be a far more liberal place by the time I turned 18, more along the lines of Amsterdam or Ibiza. But then came the squeaky-clean Reagan years, and all those public and “artistic” nudes went.

Fortunately, we have the art world to keep us, um, abreast of the beautiful and the bare. A cursory look reveals artists of every stripe are still exploring the nude in their own, often experimental, ways. Standouts include Murakami’s larger-than-life, au naturel figures at MOCA, and “In Focus: The Nude” at the Getty Center, a carefully composed collection of photography spanning 1842 to 1960. Some of the world’s greatest photographers explore nakedness here, not so much as titillation, but as a way to push formal strategies into avant-garde territories.

By the same token, Robert Graham’s “Body of Work” at USC’s Fisher Gallery shows the 69-year-old sculptor has begun experimenting with abstract nudes, which means he’s leaving his famously detailed approach behind and opting for more gestural, expressive figures.

Far from representing such hackneyed notions as “beauty” or “passion,” the exhibits seem to say the best nudes suggest intimacy, or better still, the unexpected, while their respective mediums carry the meaning and feeling. When successful, these works create an unmistakable link to the innocence and pureness of being. Kind of like my stepdad’s Oui magazines.

-- theguide@latimes.com