Why This Band of NYC Men Love Painting Each Other in the Nude

A nudist named Shungaboy and a diverse group of New Yorkers celebrate the male form in all its shapes and sizes. (Warning: contains nudity)

Shungaboy wants to paint, but even more so, he wants to be naked. The Men’s Naked Drawing Group, which Shungaboy founded, is a group of like-minded nudists who want a place to explore their art without judgment. In a small studio in SoHo, they do just that, meeting every two weeks to rediscover their naked selves. A New York resident who does not like to reveal his name, Shungaboy’s adopted moniker is borrowed from “Shunga,” the erotic art form of seventeenth-century Japan that inspires him. “The natural body is actually more attractive than the chiseled hunk,” Shungaboy says, which may as well be the motto of this accepting group of painters.