Connect the Dots | "Distracted Venus"

“Rokeby Venus” by Diego Velasquez

I bet Velasquez was infatuated by her. It certainly feels like he was. Imagine painting this at the height of the Inquisition’s power and the certain guts that must have taken.

If you ever watch interviews of art historians or critics, particularly from back in the day, it’s so entertaining to watch them dance around the fact how sexy this painting really is and to what lengths they will go to avoid that terminology…and how they blush when they, inevitably, have to acknowledge it.

I mean, c’mon, she’s drop dead gorgeous. Both sensual and attractive, romantic and inviting. But beyond that, one thing which clearly sticks out to me is her narcissism. Cupid is literally holding up a mirror so she can admire her beauty, as she lays naked on the bed. You can’t really get much more self-indulgent than that. And Velasquez realised that as well but just couldn’t help it because…again, she’s drop-dead gorgeous.

That narcissism was kinda striking though, to the point where it’s a turn off. Have you ever met someone who was visually stunning, absolutely attractive but, when you got to know them, that whole facade fell apart and every feature became plain? That resembles my reaction to this Venus. At one point I thought (and that lead to the drawing) “She only notices herself…and you, as long as you’re watching”.

The critique here is not only on our never-ending fascination with our vain self but also our never-ending fascination with the vain other. We role our eyes at images of amazingly, ridiculously perfect human beings that adorn marketing campaigns in every profitable sphere but we still never look away. We still fantasise, at least for a second, we still imagine and compare. We are still there, with Venus in the room, staring at her, right at that centrally positioned behind that demands our attention and we are, more than willing, to comply.

The thing about this piece is… I don’t like it. I’m not pleased with the final results. I wanted the colours to be muted and dark, I wanted the aesthetic to scream ugly and messy, I wanted to switch the shading technique from stippling to hatching and to do it as messily as possible and yet, despite wanting all these things, I don’t like the final result. Perhaps it’s me being used to something different, expecting something else, usually seeing different results… whatever it is, I’m not pleased with it.

There is a lesson in all of this. I was very close to tearing this one up and throwing it in the trash, being embarrassed at times at the final result, but I decided to publish it regardless. Sometimes mistakes can be learning curves, in fact they always should be. Sometimes we get what we want and we realise… it wasn’t what we wanted.