Some people called it “pornographic,” others “stimulating” and many just simply stated it was “beautiful.”

“Everybody has a favourite,” West Vancouver resident Jane Richardson says.

Inside the white walls of her downtown Leighdon Studio Gallery, 80 art pieces explore the curves, shapes and evolution of the human form.

In one corner stands a wire sculpture of a woman, her hair flowing out behind her. Beside her are three black and white photographs of muscular models. Across from them, Richardson’s cartoon-like acrylic painting of a slender lady stretched across the canvas stares back at toned figures.

“We held my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary here,” Richardson says.

Old men with walkers parked themselves in front the work, closely examining the texture and flow of paint. In many ways they seemed more open-minded about the nude exhibit than some of the younger viewers, she says.

Teenagers walked around wide-eyed, but didn’t say too much.

“They were stunned by Nathan’s work,” Richard says.

Nathan Engler’s three black and white pieces trick the eye. Using his girlfriend – Richardson’s daughter – as a model, Engler produced computer-generated images which play with reality.

“Most people think they’re photos,” Richardson says.

Across from Engler’s work hang the colour acrylic paintings by West Vancouver painter Ritta Peirone. Her latest painting features a middle-aged woman whose body melts into the blue and green background.

“I’ve always been drawn to people and what is inside a person,” Peirone says.

Peirone recalls drawing figure models at her high school in Toronto. Being immersed in fine art, the body takes on a different image.

“We were not looking at the figure as a nude, we were looking at it as something to figure out,” she says.

The shows created a lot of interest, Richardson says. Twenty-eight artist are featured in the exhibit — of which half the gallery’s earnings will go toward the BC Cancer Foundation — a sliver of the applications which poured in, Richardson says.

Viewers, some breast cancer survivors, have also sent a flood of messages complementing the exhibit and a chance for people to appreciate the body they have.

The exhibit is open until Oct. 31. It’s located at 190 West 3rd Ave. in Vancouver. For more information call 604-875-0029 or visit www.leighdon.ca.