Baring it all for art’s sake 8/16/2004
Baring it all for art’s sake
Hundreds of WNYers shed clothes, inhibitions at Central Terminal
By STEPHEN WATSON
News Staff Reporter
8/16/2004
Outside Buffalo’s Central Terminal on Sunday afternoon, hundreds of pairs of pants, dresses, T-shirts and footwear sat in piles scattered across what became the world’s largest outdoor changing room.
Inside the weather-beaten art deco landmark, the 1,800 owners of those pieces of clothing were striking a variety of poses for artist Spencer Tunick’s large-scale photo installation.
The models ranging in age from infant to great-grandparent shed their inhibitions and their clothes for the sake of art.
“I didn’t want to let this pass and not be a part of it,” said Karen Wailand, 26, a pharmacy student from Buffalo.
After the three-hour shoot, Tunick, who has taken photographs of naked volunteers around the world, told reporters the Buffalo installation drew his most diverse group in terms of age. The over-50 crowd outnumbered the under-50 folks here.
“The older people in Buffalo are just as progressive as the younger people,” he said.
Participants said they quickly became comfortable in the naked sea of humanity, and the only complaints heard were of the cold and dusty floor and the length of the shoot.
“It felt pretty natural. It was nice,” said Mike Promowicz, 61, a retired auto worker from Niagara Falls. “Kind of spooky with the broken (windows) and all the naked people there.”
As of Friday, 3,102 people had signed up for the installation, and the parking lots and streets around the East Side terminal were filling up by 11 a.m.
“We think this is going to be the coolest thing. That when we’re 50 and soccer moms we can look back and see what we were,” said Samantha Schwab, a 23-year-old production planner from Hamburg, who went with her friend, Jillian Krupski, 22, an AmeriCorps volunteer.
“This is going to be fabulous,” said Lynnette Carpenter, 35, a teacher’s aide from the Town of Tonawanda. “When else do you get a chance to do something like this? (Your picture) will be hanging in the Albright-Knox.”
Participants undressed outside and walked into the terminal’s main hall – first only the women – some boisterously and others more self-consciously.
Tunick gave direction from the second floor overlooking the spacious hall. “If you have tan lines, you’re going to want to go in the back,” he said.
After getting a few photos of the women, he brought in the men to loud cheers and applause.
The men and women came in all sizes, from enviably buff and pleasantly plump to just plain fat. Many had tattoos, and nearly all were white, in shades from Conan O’Brien pasty to George Hamilton orange.
“There’s a lot of people here. This is going to be really, really beautiful,” Tunick said.
One position had an almost ethereal, religious beauty.
Everyone in the room knelt down and tucked their head to the ground, curled in a ball, row after row on the faded red and blue stone tiles from one end of the room to the other. The church-like stillness was broken only by the sound of cameras clicking.
Tunick later took photos only of people younger than 30 or older than 50, and last took photos of the very oldest.
Afterward, participants said they quickly shed any sense of embarrassment along with their clothing.
“If someone walked in there with clothes on, they were the ones who were out of place,” said Jennifer Wallak, 24, a hair designer at the J.P. Madison salon in Lockport.
“It’s like going into the shower in gym class, with 1,000 people,” said Kevin Connors of Snyder, who went with his wife, Paula, their teenage daughters, Isobel and Brida, and family friend Mariah Kegler.
Moms Suzanne Donias and Tasha Beaudoin came all the way from California with their babies just to pose for Tunick.
“They’ll have something to laugh at when they’re old and gray,” said Beaudoin, who brought Laine, 10 months old, with her from Malibu.
