The phrase “the body” suggests there is just one, but the artwork of Pratt alumni, faculty, and students reveals that the body is perceived, composed, and defined in different ways all the time. Constructing prosthetic limbs, photographing female bodybuilders, and adorning themselves with everyday objects, Pratt alumni, faculty, and students show just how interesting the body is and how variously it can appear. The work artists put into learning to draw the nude underscores the dense complexity of the body, and whether they continue striving toward verisimilitude or move into subjective expression, artistic renditions of the body remind us that it is inextricably tied to the particular ways our visual perceptions organize the world.
