Ovation Debuts "Body By Ovation" - Two Weeks of Shows About Art and the Body Beginning September 12

Programming Event to Include the US Premieres of Skin, The Nude and Secret Museums

LOS ANGELES – August 16, 2010:   This September, Ovation takes on a classic, but provocative topic:  art and the body.  

Throughout the millennia, artists have been inspired and enraptured by the human form. In this two-week event, Ovation will feature fascinating documentaries that celebrate and explore the many artistic interpretations of the body, from the Stone Age to modern times.  “Body by Ovation” kicks off Sunday, September 12.

 
In addition, Ovation has been collecting original “nudes” created in various media (photography, painting, sculpture, etc.) from its Ovation Community members (www.OvationTV.com/community) and will showcase the best of the bunch on air during the “Body by Ovation” event.  Viewer-artists will be invited to upload their artwork during the event as well.
Program highlights from this event include:

Skin - US PREMIERE:  Sunday, September 12, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT .  Meet Geoff Ostling, an unassuming and portly teacher who decided to have his entire skin adorned with tattooed flowers.  This film charts his relationship with tattoo artist eX de Medici, who over the years has helped him realized his dream.  This was no easy feat, and a span of 25 years separated his first tattoo from his most recent.  Now a senior citizen, Geoff is looking for a taxidermist willing to preserve and exhibit his skin as a piece of artwork after he dies.  Skin explores the notion of skin as an artist’s canvas, and reveals how Geoff’s quest to turn his own body into a piece of artwork has affected his life and relationships with friends and loved ones.

The Nude:  The Classical – US PREMIERE:  Monday, September 13, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.  The Nude explores the sustaining significance of the nude figure in art and how different depictions of the nude figure have characterized civilizations.  This episode depicts classical representations of the female body.  From the Venus of Willendorf, the earliest nude figure ever found, estimated to be made in 22,000 BC, up through the famous Renaissance and the classic Venus de Milo statue, the classic view of the female form has changed quite a bit.  

The Nude: The Enlightenment - US PREMIERE:  Monday, September 13, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.  Titillation was one of the earliest reasons for nude artwork, but it has also been used to teach, to shock, to coerce and to enlighten.  This episode shows how depictions of the naked body have expressed the experience of nirvana through the act of making love, and the descent into hell after promiscuity.

The Nude: The Renaissance – US PREMIERE:  Tuesday, September 14, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.  This episode explores the nude figure in religious art.  Once seen to be sinful, dating back to the earliest depictions of Adam and Eve, ashamed of their nudity, the Renaissance brought about a time where the naked form was celebrated and idealized.   Featuring the artwork of Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Giotto.

The Nude: The Modern -  US PREMIERE:  Tuesday, September 14, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. This episode looks at how modern film changed and romanticized the image of the nude.  Starting out with the stark realism of film as opposed to canvas, we’ll explore how physical realism entered into the canon of nude depictions, and how it was eventually realized that even on film, the human body could be romanticized as the 20th century progressed.

Secret Museums – US PREMIERE:  Thursday, September 16 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.  In an age where nearly any image can be found on the internet, it’s interesting to find that censorship still runs rampant in historical erotic art.  Over the ages, erotic collections have been kept under lock and key, far from the museum halls openly available to patrons.  In this program, we will delve into some of these buried works to find out how different societies viewed the human body and recreated it in art.

About Ovation:  
Ovation is the only multi-platform network devoted to art contemporary culture. The network creates and curates one-of-a-kind programming about all the art people enjoy most, from the popular to the avant-garde and everything in between. The channel reaches a national audience of 42 million households through carriage on cable systems, DirecTV (channel 274), Dish Network (channel 157) and telco systems nationally.  Ovation’s programming is also available on video on demand (in both standard and high definition) in the US. Ovation’s popular website (http:// www.OvationTV.com) is a dynamic experience, featuring information about local and national happenings in the art world, as well as a vibrant community of artists who have uploaded over 120,000 pieces of original art.

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CONTACTS:
Michelle Orsi
Three.Sixty Marketing & Communications
310.418.6430, michelle@360-comm.com

Patricia Frith
Patricia Frith Marketing (for Ovation)
818 876-0480, pfmarketing@roadrunner.com

Images and more information available at http://www.OvationTV.com/media