By Paul Varnell

Contributing writer

Since the early Renaissance, Western art has emphasized the female nude at the expense of the male. Artists had no trouble depicting nude females in a variety of situations, including the erotic. But with a few exceptions such as Michelangelo and Caravaggio they seldom gave similar attention to the nude male.

It is only in the last few decades with the decline of censorship and the rise of an assertive gay liberation that we have begun to see the creation and public display of art that focuses on the nude or semi-nude male body.

In that light, “The Man Show: Art of the Male Anatomy,” currently on view at the Mars Gallery, provides a welcome opportunity to view some examples by Chicago artists of the modern efflorescence of works focusing on the male body. The exhibition features the work of 11 artists, male and female, gay and heterosexual, depicting the male form in various artistic styles and media. A few examples:

Perhaps the most impressive pieces, and not only because they are the largest, are six paintings by Zach Stiglicz, titled “Man 1,” “Man 2,” etc. The roughly 5-feet by 4-feet depictions of full-length or upper halves of male bodies are rendered in an expressionist style marked by broad, slashing brush strokes. While many details are omitted, the men are often husky and sometimes lightly individualized, such as the man with the pointed ears of Pan. But the images seem to emerge from behind the multiple thick layers of paint, suggesting the intensity of the creative act.

Joseph Taylor contributes “Meat Master,” a painting in orange and black of a man exuberantly waving aloft a hot dog on a barbecue fork, and “Down Under,” a picture of a black man sitting with his knees drawn up on the left side of the work while the right side is almost completely unoccupied. “Bee and Man,” a piece with a high wince factor, shows an apparently naked man, his body outlined with bees, with more bees scattered about his body, almost covering his face and genitals.

Jeff Lassiter’s four pieces of pop art include “The Wild Boys,” a picture of a biker in a leather jacket that he intends as a tribute to Marlon Brando, and “Syko” a largely calligraphic piece that highlights the words “Maul,” “Droid” and “Syko,” in red, orange and yellow against a gray and green background. The words are tags or identifiers that Lassiter says he used when he was creating graffiti art. An image of comic book character Archie is also included, certifying the painting as “pop.”

Two small works by Tom Warchol deserve particular attention. “Master Sergeant” shows a husky man with a tattoo of a sergeant’s stripes strangling a lion. The work is a modern re-imagining of the strangling of the Nemean lion, the first of the 12 labors of Hercules. The other work, “Minotaur Menaced by Cupid,” shows an anguished minotaur painfully shot by an arrow from the little god. The image likely alludes to Picasso’s numerous drawings of a minotaur engaged in intimacies with a woman.

Michael Berrat contributes three mischievous but untitled charcoal drawings of amorphous forms with various shapes and protrusions similar to those you can see in a lava lamp. Except that the more carefully you look the more some of the protrusions begin to look a little bit phallic, maybe a lot phallic.

Finally, Daniel Nolan contributes two carefully executed paintings: “Meditation” shows a seated man facing away from the viewer, his hands on his knees in a classic meditation position. The other painting, “Adam,” depicts a nude male torso seen from the rear, his hands clasped behind his back. Nolan mentions that “Adam” is actually part of a diptych, the companion piece not surprisingly titled “Eve.”

All in all, the exhibit demonstrates that images of the male can include a wide variety of subject matter and attitudes, depicting men as active and engaged with their environment as well as receptive objects of observation, possessing sexual potential but not always focused on that aspect.

“The Man Show,” Aug. 18-Sept. 1, curated by interior designer and art collector Phillip Bernal, at the Mars Gallery, 1139 W. Fulton Market. Gallery hours: Tues. and Wed. by appointment; Thurs. 12-7 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 12-6 p.m.