Exploring the body in philosophical and spiritual concepts.

Then.

Back around 2012, I owned a gallery in Marysville, California, and I would hire live models for my artists to sketch, paint, and sculpt. (Live model is artist-speak for naked.) One of the models I hired was Greg Withrow. He cold-called me one day and said he’d heard I hired models. We chatted on the phone for a bit about his experience in modeling and we set a date for him to come model. During that same call, I also scheduled a one-on-one session with him in my studio for after the group session as I love shooting naked men. Hands-down, he remains the best live model I’ve ever had. The way he held poses for my artists and the great poses he did were unparalleled. After the group session, I scheduled him for another group session at the request of the artists. Sadly, he could not come to that session and so I filed my photos away.

Now.

A few days before Christmas 2019, I got a phone call. That phone call was from Greg! Greg wanted to schedule a session where I would come shoot him again. At first, we’d talked about an outdoor session in the spring. But over the course of the past few phone calls, we realized that working together on a long term project would be far more interesting.  We are exploring the idea of the body after life ends. Plastinization, composting, donation to science, and other avenues are all on the table. Greg and I will document and illustrate these concepts and ideas through photography and other mediums.  As I shoot, we are also discussing his history within the white power movement and thoughts on society.

Later.

Greg is in good health but like each of us, life in this physical form will end eventually.  When that happens, Greg plans to be flayed with his tattoos being preserved as art and his body going to BodyWorlds.

Details.

This project is on hiatus because I have relocated to the east coast. It may resume at some point in the future depending on my schedule and travel.