Proud to present: "Rebirth of Venus" (Venus Revive)

After several weeks of hard work one of my new works is finally done and here am sharing it in blog

"Rebirth of Venus"   (Venus Revive)

Oil and gold leaf on wood carved frame retablo 25.5" x 17.5"

(2009)

The work is a tribute to classical antiquity and mythology but at the same time it is imbued with a message about contemporary culture. It is a reminder of how ephemeral our world today can be in comparison to ancient notions such as beauty and love.Venus is 'revived' in a new world where we find dilapidated billboards  a sunken ship and ephemeral consumer junk around a contaminated coastal area. Out of an old broken tire a plant grows persistently and in the center Venus stands sensuous unveiling her nudity unashamed. Three angels representing the races of man accompany the goddess. The depction of the yellow cloth Venus is holding, the yellow necklace worn by the black angel and the shell he carries suggest that the Santeria Orisha Oshun and the Greek Olympian Aphrodite are the same and one entity, both sensual and spiritual. I am even more interested now in bringing these belief systems together in opposition to the materialist world where we live in. With this in mind I intend to remind the viewer of his of her forgotten spiritual heritage buried under so much mass media waste and consumer products. But as it is implicit in the work, in the end, Nature and what is pure shall prevail.On the top escutcheon  an epithet reads Vivat Venus, which in english would be translated as "Long Live Venus".