“Clothing Optional”

Dimensions: 66” x 58”

Medium: Oil on canvas and lace fabric

Artist: Greg Busch

Sun-soaked and drenched in memory, Clothing Optional captures more than a moment on the beach—it captures the feeling of childhood freedom, of mothers laughing, of waves crashing through time. But look again, and you’ll see it's not just nostalgia—it’s commentary.

The lace overlay suggests domesticity and softness, yet here it’s used over figures caught in wild motion. The phrase “clothing optional” emerges faintly, humorously, like a whispered provocation or a cultural echo from a freer era.

Busch isn’t moralizing—he’s remembering. And questioning. What parts of ourselves do we keep clothed? Which do we let run free?

There’s joy here. But it’s filtered—through lace, through paint, through the past. This is memory as artifact, and play as protest.