Shocking Topless Scene
A topless scene: Houston model causes a furor by stripping off her clothes in a fancy restaurant
Forget Hooters and Twin Peaks, photographer/videographer Allen Henson is giving true meaning to the term "breastaurant" — albeit in New York City — with his brazen performance art employing Houston model Shelby Carter. She recently bared almost all in Salon de Ning, the rooftop bar and lounge in the chichi Peninsula Hotel.
The Daily Mail first reported on Henson's project of "filming topless models in public eating places."
The videotaped striptease shows lounge guests clearly shocked, though some kept their Manhattan cool, as Carter strutted seductively onto the eatery's rooftop terrace wearing only lace lingerie. After a good minute of sultry "ohs and ahs" Carter removed her bra —"in the name of art."
The videotaped striptease shows lounge guests clearly shocked, though some kept their Manhattan cool.
Henson and Carter were rather quickly escorted by hotel security to the street where police arrived to contain the situation.
Before getting arrested, both Henson and Carter offered to take a picture with the two police officers. The officers responded,"‘Where is this gonna go?’"
Henson tells the Houston Chronicle that he has been "intentionally targeting locations with a higher number of international patrons,” to prove that Americans are noticeably more terrified of breasts, especially American women."
Henson has certainly given the public a lot to think about—and to see.
“A majority of performance art is generally shock value. Maybe that’s all this is," Henson says. "But it’s interesting to me and that’s why I’m here, to capture unorthodox imagery. It’s selfish but I’m entertained.”
Carter is no stranger to adult art, having posed for Playboy.com and Maxim. She was listed on Houston Press "100 Creatives" for 2013, mainly for her work here at artist hub Muse Studios.
