Artists - Part 91

Richard Laeton

Richard Laeton was born in 1955 and raised in Long Beach, New York.  He attended Carnegie Mellon University and the Parsons School of Design.  He is currently a graphic designer in Marin County, California.

Early on, he became fascinated with birds and made beautiful paintings of many wild birds, such as Hooded Oriole, above.

His output is prodigious, including all kinds of portraits and other pictures.  Male nudes make up only a small part of his work, but that's what we will look at today.  Above, Victor.

Often in his male nude paintings, the background design shows through the male nude, like Radley, above.

Laeton conceals male frontal nudity, which is odd, because most artists value artistic freedom over prudish public attitudes.  Above, in Dillian C., the background shows through, but the penis doesn't.

In Mike W. it's a woodland background that shows through.

The pattern is especially obvious in Lance W., above, where it seems to have graduated from a background pattern to becoming the foreground of the image.  Why does Laeton do this?  Maybe to be different, or maybe it's just his thing.  Personally, I don't like the effect.

So it's a relief to find a Laeton male nude without a background showing through, like Rafael #1, above.