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SCMP Reporter

MEMBERS of the Obscene Articles Tribunal are advised to buy a stiff drink before they look at what's displayed on the walls in the bar at the Fringe Club this week. The work may not be the product of artists as well known as Michelangelo or Elisabeth Frink but their subject matter is equally explicit.

  The exhibition takes the nude as its theme and is the product of work by artists from the 'Life After Work' classes organised by artist Martine Beale. Her aim, however, is far from controversial: to give busy people an opportunity to recover from the stresses of life in Hong Kong by exploring their creative talents in workshops with live models.

  It may sound like an unlikely proposal but it has met with a surprising response.

  Having started out with just one workshop in April 1994, Beale now runs five a week and is still facing increasing demand.

  The classes are attended by people as diverse as merchant bankers, housewives and architects.

  Some have trained as professional artists, others have had no instruction at all. But they all share one thing in common: the belief that this is one of the best ways that they know to relax.

  Beale does not provide instruction, just a model and a room above the Fringe Club. 'We all learn from each other,' she says.

  'It helps tremendously to look at other people's work and to have the chance to talk about it. It's amazing how quickly you progress.

  'I've had people who have started out doing stick drawings but in less than a couple of months they are producing work that is really good.'   Beale has worked as a teacher, a secretary, and at one time was a drummer in a rock band, but it was her experience as an artist's model that encouraged her to explore her talents on the other side of the canvas.

  'Everyone can draw, we all have ability,' she says. 'The most I'd done before was doodling.' But now, only three years since she first started going to art classes, her work shows obvious talent.

  'To understand the human form you have to see a naked body,' she says but points out that there are very few part-time courses in Hong Kong which offer this facility.

  She says that life models are in short supply in such a conservative culture and finds, in the main, that they tend to be female, young and expatriate.

  She tries only to employ experienced models. 'It's quite a skill to be able to hold a position and to know what pose would look good,' she says.

  'I'd love to give people the opportunity to draw fatter, older people. But understandably, there are not many out there who are keen to come in and pose.'   Anyone interested in applying, will need a thick skin in more ways than one.

  'You try perching on a rough piece of wood for half an hour without a cushion and without moving, it's not easy.' Beale says. 'And people sometimes make very personal comments. I've heard complaints that I'm too thin. They forget that I can hear them. I'm not a mannequin.'   But she believes her experience working as a model has enhanced her work.

  'It gives your work another dimension,' she says.

  'It is very easy to come in and just sit and look at the model, but when you know how it feels to be in a certain position you can't help but reflect that feeling in your work.'   Many of the works on show are by people who are exhibiting for the first time.

  All have taken their inspiration from the nude models in the classes, with some impressive results.

  The work ranges from colourful abstracts in acrylics and oils to simple graphite sketches; many show a standard far higher than that displayed in the average art college degree show.

  One exhibitor, Petra Curtis, says she was frustrated by the creative limitations of her job as a graphic designer for an advertising agency.

  'It can be quite limiting to follow other people's briefs,' she says.

  'This has been a chance to do something that releases a lot of tension and is a lot of fun.'   Textile designer Jasia Szersynska says Beale's classes help improve her professional work.

  In the classes, she works with a big brush and a pot and often produces two sketches in less than a minute, often suggesting a form in just a few lines. 'I've got a lot bolder,' she says. 'It helps to keep my drawing loose. But more than that, Hong Kong people need to do this sort of thing. We all get so uptight with the pressures of life here. I recommend it to everyone.'   Indeed, exhibitor and investment banker David Mordecai says that drawing is an invaluable release from the pressures of work.

   'It's quite simple,' he says. 'The classes help keep me sane.' Life After Work, September 7 to 13. Heineken Gallery, Fringe Club 



Unwind with a nude