“The Birth Of Venus”
In the beginning there was love… The concept is inspired by Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”. She is born anew in the 21st Century, full of love and joy radiating, a shared moment in time that is everyone’s time. The angel showers her with emoticons and she floats into the city. Her face beams for all those she loves and knows. She is not feminine or masculine except for the tell-tale accessories. She is neither rich nor poor, she could be one of billions, yet in this moment, she is a goddess of love.
Acrylic on Canvas (80 cm x 100 cm)
“Goddess Diana”
“The emotions that good hunters need to cultivate are love and service more than courage. The sentiments of the hunt then become translated into art.*
Diana is known as the Hunter goddess, always with a dog or deer by her side, a bow and arrow… she is one with nature, both ruling it and a part of it. The angel is inspired by ‘The Triumph of Galatea’ by Raphael’.
Diana is fierce yet shy, soft and grounded. She is strong and independant. She shares her strength with the world at large as she protects her valuables by her chest.
Acrylic on Canvas (80cm x 80 cm)
*James Swan: 1754 – July 31, 1830 was a native of Boston, a dazzling personality of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is said to have paid the entire public debt of his country, the still young United States, to France from his own fortune.
“Goddess Luna”
Luna is a reflection of the Sun, hidden in the day and shining at night. Night is a time of dreams and wishes on stars, a time to reflect, a time of darkness and looking for light. Luna is in darkness and light, she is shining from the phone and the moon, from the angel that sprinkles ‘like’ emoticons in the sky. She is young, still unsure yet beautiful in her youthful innocence.
Acrylic on Canvas (80 cm x 80 cm)
“The Secret Marriage of Cupid and Psyche”
It’s complicated. Once upon a moment in time, Goddess Venus fell jealous of mortal Psyche’s beauty and ordered her son Cupid to match her with a donkey. Cupid, upon seeing Psyche’s beauty, tripped and fell upon his arrow and fell in love with her.
As Gods were forbidden to fall in love with mortals, Cupid arranged to keep Psyche secretly as his concubine. Cupid told her she should stand on the cliff and let the gods invisibly sweep her away to her destiny.
The Gods secretly cared for her in a beautiful castle in the woods. Cupid came only in the night and slept with her using the darkness to hide his identity. He knew her image but she could not capture his. She and Cupid fell in love. Upon the insistence of her sisters, she shone a light on Cupid as he lay sleeping next to her. Cupid woke, and burned himself on the candle and fled, leaving Psyche alone and tortured by her actions and her undying love for Cupid.
Acrylic on canvas (100 cm x 80 cm)
“Golden Showers”
Jupiter (Zeus – Greek) was a god of gods, and married to Goddess Juno (Hera – Gr.). He was a notorious adulterer and to hide his affairs from his wife he would disguise himself by transforming into other things.
Upon seeing Danae, a beautiful mortal woman, Jupiter transformed himself into a Golden Shower and rained down upon Danae, making love to her and giving her a son.
In days of Gods, golden showers represented luck, success, gold flowing. Others suggest that Danae was the first prostitute with gold being payment. The angel is giving it away with his emoticons: Smirk, Wink, Weather, Rain, and of course the Love emoji.
Acrylic on canvas (100 cm x 80 cm)
“Goddess Iris & the Taming of Pegasus”
Goddess of the Rainbow, Fertility, Colors, the Sea, Heraldry, the Sky, Truth, and Oaths. She is one of the messengers of the Gods, and often seen at festivities serving wine and magical waters. In the 21st century she Is the hostess with the mostest with the help her magical pixie making sure happy face emoticons shower down from the heavens.
She is both magical and a goddess who has purpose. She is a man woman, benign yet her neon pink jacket and smart silk floral scarf screams goddess. She carries her designer bag of goodies while focusing on conquering her messenger duties of coloured imagery by making use of app enhancements.
Acrylic on Canvas (100 cm x 125 cm)
“The Rape of Proserpina”
The Rape of Proserpina was the Roman version of the tale of the abduction of the springtime goddess Proserpina by Pluto,
King of the underworld.
In a desire to expand her family, Venus orders Cupid to find the maiden a mate. Once struck, Pluto finds Proserpina picking spring flowers and falls in love. He immediately steals her away into the underworld to be his wife.
Ceres, Proserpina’s mother, and Pluto’s sister, searches the world to find her daughter with no luck. She learns that her daughter has been taken against her will and demands her father Zeus help. To solve this problem between his two children, Ceres and Pluto, Zeus decides that half the time Proserpina is allowed to return to earth, and half the time in the underworld, thus creating the seasons.
The paintings are a diptych. The first entitled “Pluto & Proserpina – The Innocence of Spring” shows Proserpina playing with her friends as Pluto watches, capturing her image as his own. The second painting entitled “Staff” shows the edge of the underworld, the reality of life as a kind of hell.
“Pluto & Proserpina – The Innocence of Spring”
Acrylic (80 x 100 cm)
“Staff”
Acrylic (80 x 145 cm)
“Goddess Khaos – In the Fog”
Khaos was the first of the gods to emerge at the dawn of creation.
Khaos was the lower atmosphere which surrounds the earth – both the invisible air and the gloom of fog and mist. The word khaos means “gap” or “chasm” being the space between heaven and earth.
She faces a parking lot, recreating all of time. Predating social media and emoticons, her angel is shadowed, carrying a balloon with a happy face, turning his back and walking into the void.
Acrylic on Canvas (80 cm x 80 cm)
Selfies are not limited to time and space with history highlighting its development as early as Ancient Greece and the first Olympics. Today’s self is expected to be fit, beautiful, smart, make money, wear the right clothes, listen to the right music and shows to the point of impossibly high standards verging on Godlike figures, mythological identity. Today with the pandemic, the self has taken on new meaning, transcending reality to virtual survival as a means to connect.
In a shape shifting world, we are grappling with our identity in so many ways. Our environment and our economies are tied into each other globally yet we identify with nations, cities, religions, gender, race… We have many identities and in a very real sense, and yet, we exist in a virtual world globally, separated by time and space.
Does taking a selfie or pic, take us out of our reality or does it create one? Do we live in one reality? Every moment is filled with memories and future plans, and, every moment is this moment. We are creating a form of identity that we want to share. We are creating ways to cross time zones, cultural archives that exist forever online like the myths of Gods & Goddesses.
Are we really narcissistic? In a world of billions, how do we matter? who are we? How do we matter? We recreate our meaning.