Currently showing at the Upper East Side's Skarstedt cq Gallery is the anonymous collection of nude portraits entitled "Vaseline Muses." The show gets its name from the photographic technique of smearing vaseline on the camera lens used to create a blurry, soft look in the images. This element adds a dreamlike quality to the whole collection. The naked women appear to be hiding behind a gauzy curtain, eroticizing the figures. Vaseline gives the pictures unique sweeping movement of the figures in motion. Limbs of the models seem to trail behind them in space. In some pieces the affect of the camera emphasizes body parts with the use of blurred light and shadow. These pieces are reminiscent of charcoal studies, lacking detail to highlight silhouetted forms.

The concept of "Vaseline" is taken beyond the technique and brought into the actual subject matter of the show by using models whose naked bodies are also smeared with greasy substances. One particular photograph shows a young blond woman splashed with mud, her downcast face obscured by loose hair. Though sexually graphic, creating a sense of hiding gives this piece a feeling of innocence.

The exhibit is a powerful presentation of the many faces of women. The photographs portray the muses as erotic, powerful, tender, dominating, pensive, aggressive, and even spiritual. One piece shows a young woman appearing to take Holy Communion, and in another, the model is serving drinks. The twenty-two works are actually photographs of photographs found in books and magazines. Many were originally taken at performance art events in the 1960s. The predominant theme of sexuality in the show gains its momentum from the time period of the models, who were in the forefront of the Sexual Revolution.

This sexually charged collection could be considered as more female empowering than erotically scintillating. As the title suggests, the show is not purely about sex, but the diversity of the muses themselves.