Venus 1986

Here's Mark Kostabi's Venus, looking a little lost on that green sea. I can see those black strokes surrounding the white of her body, almost like he's carving her out, letting her emerge from the background like a sculpture. I wonder if Kostabi felt like Pygmalion when he made this, trying to breathe life into a form. The blocky head is so weird and robotic. Those red lights make me think of a machine or even a cash register. Was he thinking about money? There's something really jarring and beautiful about that contrast. Kostabi's saying something about beauty and commerce, about classicism and modernity, but it's up to us to try and figure out exactly what that is. It feels unresolved, like painting should. It reminds us that we're all just remixing and sampling the past, trying to make something new.