"The body represents beauty, love and peace. There was a lot of beauty and energy in the people today."

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- More than 1,500 Venezuelans shed their clothes on a main city avenue Sunday to pose for American photographer Spencer Tunick, forming a human mosaic in front of a national symbol: a statue of independence hero Simon Bolivar.

As Tunick shouted commands through a megaphone, nude people of every shape, size and skin tone gathered on the avenue and stairs in front of the statue just before dawn.

"There are some people over there with clothes; get them out of there!" said Tunick, an artist from Brooklyn, New York, who has been documenting groups of nude people in public places around the world since 1992.

For the volunteers, being part of Tunick's art meant letting go of inhibitions and enduring a two-hour series of sometimes uncomfortable positions on the pavement.

Harold Velasquez, a thin 23-year-old university student, said he was nervous before the 4:30 a.m. event -- but felt free while posing.

"I put the lightest clothes I had on this morning because I knew I wouldn't have them on for long," a smiling Velasquez said. "There were good vibrations, a good positive energy among all the people involved. I felt liberated."

The nude subjects posed standing, lying down and on their knees as the warm Caribbean sun emerged on the eastern horizon.

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