• August 18, 1997 12:00 am

LIMESTONE — More than 1,100 people celebrated Sunday morning at the Phish concert by getting naked.

Answering a call “only to the brave” from artist Spencer Tunick, Phish phans lined up at the barrier separating the camping area from the concert area on the runway at the former Loring Air Force base and signed releases stating they were over 18 years old and consenting to be subjects of Tunick’s photographic effort. Then they ran out of release forms.

With a hoot and a cheer, they streamed through an opening in the barricade to receive instructions and thanks from one of Tunick’s assistants. About 20 people needed no instructions to disrobe as they shed their garments coming through the gate. Three naked men played three-cornered frisbee.

Almost exclusively white, a 60-40 percent split between males and females, they were told that Tunick wanted to shoot about 20 frames of them in two different poses. As Tunick made his preparations on the opposite side of the field in a more secluded area near one of the entrances to the concert area, excitement among the participants grew.

“I just think it would be a wild thing to do to get naked with 450 people [Tunick’s original goal],” said Drew Douglas, 18, of Boston.

“There’s over 60,000 people here, and over 450 are going to get naked, and I just want to be a part of it,” said Catherine Stockman, 18, of Madison, Wis. “I think it’s beautiful. The naked body is absolutely gorgeous.”

Bob Stein, 19, an art student at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, thought that it was a good opportunity to take his clothes off without embarrassing or making other people uncomfortable. “I just want to get naked,” he said.

Courtney Cartledge, 28, of Connecticut, just “felt like doing something spontaneous,” adding that the poster each participant received would make a good souvenir, or maybe even a family Christmas card.

When the models got the word to proceed to the shoot, there was no hesitation as they headed across the field on foot in the company of a naked unicyclist. Clothed medical help and security, a small crowd of viewers with the right security clearance, the media, and one of the film crews filming the Great Went followed gamely behind.

Shedding their clothes and celebrating their nudity with cheers, the models were led between two ropes that outlined a funnel shape on the tarmac. The unicyclist did a handstand as the others settled into position. As Tunick directed their distribution within the ropes from a cherry picker, the 450 lay down on their backs with their right sides to the camera and with their faces looking into woods in the opposite direction. Once the subjects finished smoothing their hair, resisted the urge to look around, settled their heads back and put their arms down, Tunick shot the picture.

When Tunick directed his models to spread out about 10 feet more and to assume the second pose. Slapping their bellies all together, the 450 spread out and then collapsed into various positions from contorted twists to comfortable fetal positions, observing only two limitations — not to be sitting and with faces turned toward the woods. Tunick then shot the second pose and thanked his subjects.

Tamela Richmond, 23, of Pennsylvania, said simply, “It was fun.”

Bruce Rainard, 28, of Florida, said he felt “fairly unabashed.”

Tunick himself was quite pleased as he signed autographs for many of his models. Aiming to shoot nudes in every state, Tunick said Maine was No. 18. While he wants to exhibit, he said that now all of his work can be viewed on his Web site.

Describing the first shot as “abstract” and the second as a composition of people brave enough to pose nude, he said, “When you see bodies contorted, you always think of death, but for me, this is not an explosion of death. It’s an explosion of life.”

According to Bruce Rainard, the experience of being “brave” was “very natural.” Models felt “very comfortable together,” and experienced “an uncanny ease.”

Many returned to their campsites in the Great Went camping area satisfied, unconcerned and with their clothes in hand.