Posing nude for an art class: one man’s tale

Inspired by the following post on figure-drawing classes, we began casting about for info on how Brokelyn readers can get paid gigs as art models. Stay tuned for more on that, but we did find a highly amusing article by Gersh Kuntzman of the Brooklyn Papers, who did just that in January—for free, at the Drink-n-Draw sessions at 3rd Ward in Williamsburg. By Gersh’s own account, he’s not exactly Michelangelo’s David (that’s him at left).

I don’t have what one (and when I say “one,” I mean 98 percent of all Americans) would call a pleasing body. I’m overweight, I have a sunken sternum that gives the illusion (it’s an illusion, I assure you!) that I have large man-breasts, I have wide hips capped by truck tire love handles and, frankly, I have the endowment of a minor community college.

Students didn’t complain—a cute blond compliments him on his child-bearing hips and his “interesting” body in the video. Too kind! We’re gathering the deets on modeling there, but aspiring artists can see someone different in the altogether—not Gersh—every week at Drink-n-Draw, Wednesday nights from 8 to 10:30 at 3rd Ward, $15 a person or $10 if you bring a friend. They provide the beer and the model. (Do models get to drink?) By the way, we just found out that 3rd Ward, a design center for creative professionals, is giving away free green bikes (below) right now to everyone who buys a membership, starting at $39 a month. So cute!