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Counter Arts

The (Counter)Cultural One-Stop for Nonfiction on Medium… incorporating categories for: ‘Art’, ‘Culture’, ‘Equality’, ‘Photography’, ‘Film’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Music’ and ‘Literature’.

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5 Nudes: Twisters

7 min readMar 15, 2025

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Olja Twisting © Simon Goss ARCA 2021

I am often asked what I like in a life drawing pose, and the first thing that comes to mind is a twist. There is something about a simple twist of, say, 30° between shoulders and hips that give a pose a dynamic that is very appealing to me. It suggests to me that the model is at least trying, and not just standing there. I imagine that it is not a difficult addition to a model’s repertoire but I can only guess if it is hard to hold.

The degree to which the model twists can vary widely from a rather less challenging 10° to a spine tingling 45° but whatever the degree, it invariably adds salt to the pose for me. The more limber models such as Olja, an advanced yoga practitioner, will push the twist to extremes, almost at the level of a circus contortionist. The less limber, maybe older models still win my favour with a bit of effort in rotation. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate anything a model is prepared to present me with, but if they ask, I will usually request that they give it a twist.

1 Theresa Twisting

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Theresa Twisting © Simon Goss ARCA 2007

One of my favourite drawings from my early period of this style of drawing, where Theresa presents…

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Counter Arts
Counter Arts

Published in Counter Arts

The (Counter)Cultural One-Stop for Nonfiction on Medium… incorporating categories for: ‘Art’, ‘Culture’, ‘Equality’, ‘Photography’, ‘Film’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Music’ and ‘Literature’.