Pop Tarts

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA– Back in the 1970s, Allen Funt, of Candid Camera fame, put out an R-rated feature film called What Do You Say to a Naked Lady, which had, yes, live, nude women dropping trou (and everything else) in public so the startled reactions of strangers could be caught on film. It felt a little like that last night at the Ace Gallery in Hollywood, a warehouse-like space where a few hundred music industry types were herded up a ramp and confronted with about 35 motionless and completely naked (except for their high heels) ladies. But there was nothing to say to them, because we were all there to hear the world premiere of Kanye West’s forthcoming 808s & Heartbreak, with the stationary models as a sort of accompanying art installation, as imagined by Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft. For some, Allen Funt wasn’t the filmmaker brought to mind. “For the first time, I feel like I’m really in a Fellini movie,” said the fellow next to me. For those of us with really long memories, the phalanx of female birthday suits almost could have passed as an homage to the original, pre-censored, NSFW album cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, although Hendrix had a slightly higher tolerance for body fat on his models than West or Beecroft. Read the rest of this entry »