Imagine yourself naked.
Except for the rare few, odds are you’re not
thinking loving thoughts. Now put a few years on yourself and try the same exercise.
Imagine your aging body naked. Will you embrace each wrinkle and crevice as a story to be told? Or will you invest in some bulky cardigans and promptly try to ignore your relationship to your body?
Artists
Alice and Richard Matzkin started to get scared about the aging process when they were in their late 50’s. Rather than ignoring their reactions, they decided to stare their fears in the face.
Alice drew touching paintings that ranged from regal women in woolen sweaters to stark naked cancer survivors in their older years. Richard chose to sculpt older lovers, inspired by his strong relationship with Alice. He also sculpted the darker sides of aging: the hunched shoulders and anguished expressions that most of us would prefer to pretend don’t exist.
By bringing aging in its full glory to life, this couple has made the experience not only more comfortable for themselves, but for fans everywhere. Their book
The Art of Aging stands as just one of their collaborations in 32 years together.
With a shared studio and a shared life, they spend almost every moment together and are totally in love. Alice says, “We have that kind of relationship. We’re in each other’s corner.”
Even though they’re both on the young side for
this series (in their 70’s) we were roused by their vision and wanted to learn more, not only about
The Art of Aging but also the art of
living:
How is painting and sculpting older bodies different?
Richard: I find it much more interesting – and so does Alice – to work with lines and wrinkles as opposed to smooth young skin. The personality and the character of the subject comes out more clearly as people age. You wear your personality and facial expression and the way that your wrinkles are set.
Alice: It is much more interesting to paint an old face than a young one. It’s like painting an egg when they are young. There is nothing to do! When you get older and it starts to drop and wrinkle, it gets interesting! It’s the
roadmap of your life. Every line and wrinkle is a story of your years.
Have you had a positive reception to the collection of art in your book?
Richard: It’s been positive and negative. The book is “in your face.” People are very moved by it. If they have issues about aging or old couples, it brings it to the surface. Sometimes people end up in tears because it brings up a lot of feelings. I explored my fears of aging in the book, so it could be a lot more confronting.
Did working on the art and the book help you to come to peace with aging?
Richard: By using my art, I was able to come to a place of acceptance. You look at the monster in the room and you realize it was just a crumpled piece of paper. It’s not
something fearful.
Alice. There were also so many insights by so many of the people we met about aging. It was so helpful to us. We are so grateful to be alive.
Even if you’re grateful to be alive, most of us are not grateful to be openly naked. Was it difficult to find models for this project?
Alice: Even my friends that are the
biggest nudists in the world wouldn’t take their clothes off for a painting. I did find 12 people that would, including myself. We are so youth oriented, that a lot of older people want to hide their bodies. I had no desire to hide what was really real for me. I’m still basically a shy person, but my body is my home. My soul resides inside of it. To continue to run after the fountain of youth is a recipe for torture.
Richard: You get old and if you don’t accept, you suffer.
Alice: It’s about living a life. Our life on earth is so short. We’re only here for two seconds. I’ve known people who are very sick and still maintain an amazing attitude towards life. Phyllis in the book, who has a breast missing, ended up dying from her cancer, but her zest for life was always amazing. She got so tuned in spiritually. She was amazing until the very end.
We can only hope that we will be the same. To grab a copy of Alice and Richard’s book (which makes for a great gift)
head here.
