Just on time for women‘s day (8th of March), I am releasing the screen print Rioting Venus.
The motive addresses the public and social media obsession of the female body, more specifically covering the female nipples. However, when a piece of art like a statue or painting is displayed, this rule does not seem to apply, after all, museums are full of nudes. The question was, where is the limit, when does art start or end? For that I created a (photo-)realistic display of one of the most iconic statues: the Venus of Milo. Additionally, a pink balaclava is added in reference to Pussy Riot, Femen and other feminist organizations.
When I first painted the motive, I wanted to see how the public (I released it at Bristols’s upfest) and social media would react, would I be banned and the work restricted? Looking at what social media has become, this sounds almost naïve, now we are faced with more sexism, misogyny and anti-feminism than 10 years ago.
But the 8th of March is also the day for hetero-cis-white-males like myself to say I am a feminist, because feminism is a human right.
Details:
For the screen print I used bright colours which are intensified using the blue-grey background. The high detail of the art work is achieved using halftones.
- 7 colour hand-made silk screen print on 250g/sqm paper
- 42 x 30 cm
- Limited edition of 55 copies + 5 AP
- Signed, number, embossed
- Each print has a certificate
