Venus Rising: Paintings and Drawings
Group Exhibition, Vancouver Italian Cultural Center, 2018

14 artists from our Life Drawing Group, ‘Simply Drawing’, participated in this Group Exhibition. Sketching from live models, we examined and reinterpreted Botticelli's infamous Birth of Venus (or Venus Rising) c. 1480.

Artist Statement

Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (Italian: Nascita di Venere), completed in 1486, is one of the most iconic works of the Renaissance, a lasting symbol of beauty, and perhaps the most reinterpreted painting in art history. My interpretation is a homage to the root of our group exhibition – drawing – and transformation through a process of print-transfers and various techniques.

After our Life Drawing sessions with the model, Stephanie, I settled on my first drawing of her – with the colouring, it felt Renaissance yet modern, with a softer, more ethereal feel of Venus. I transferred a digital copy of my drawing onto unstretched canvas. The transfer process isn’t always perfect, but that’s what I like about it – the imperfections are a new element to work with. In my first transfer, the imperfections were reminiscent of a Roman Fresco and I enhanced that.

To complete the series, I repeated the transfers in different colour-ways and embellished them – a nod to Andy Warhol and his interpretation of The Birth of Venus in his quintessential silkscreen style, individual stylistic treatments, and a similar crop to my piece – drawing on various elements and themes in the painting.

The collage, with wrapping paper print of an old tapestry from the 1500’s, references the spring flowers and the wind in the original. And the underwater piece, with metallic gel pens like ocean phosphorescence, draws on the water theme and my love of the sea. And the last piece in the series is a blend of the previous two, in gold leaf, reminiscent of Gustav Klimt.

Exhibited together, they show a progression from simplicity to adornment, like The Birth of Venus’s journey starting as a wedding gift, barely viewed by the public until many years later, and subsequently becoming one of the most iconic and recognizable images in art.

Venus Rising: Paintings and Drawings
Vancouver Italian Cultural Center, 2018

There are certain works of art that reach such a level of fame that they become an archetypal reference point or even a catalyst for our meditations on the mysteries of human existence. Botticelli's Birth of Venus (or Venus Rising) c. 1480 is one such painting. In this work the viewer becomes a witness to the birth of Venus. Before us the goddess of beauty materializes from the foam of the sea. There is no moment of evolution or transformation, there is no growth, rather she arrives fully formed; an ideal of perfect feminine beauty and eroticism.

In this exhibition 14 artists study and reinterpret this painting. For 15 months these artists have contemplated, examined and recast this monumental artistic achievement. In the process they have reflected deeply on its impact on the history of art, feminism, and popular culture. How has this painting shaped our notions of physical beauty, they ask? Please join us for this contemporary artistic exploration into a painting which continues to captivate.