Aphrodite in Spring Possibly 1970

Editor: Here we have Ann Brunskill’s “Aphrodite in Spring,” possibly from 1970, done with matter-painting techniques, and presented as a print. The abstract figure feels ethereal, almost like she's emerging from water. How do you approach a piece like this? Curator: I’m drawn to the process behind it. Considering this is called a matter-painting, I immediately look to how the materials themselves communicate. This layering, the textured effects... it speaks to a real engagement with the medium. Do you see the figure as rising from the medium, or constructed *by* it? Editor: That’s an interesting point –constructed by it. It blurs the lines. I was seeing her separate, but maybe she's one with her materials, the material is how we perceive her body... almost like her flesh? Curator: Exactly! And isn’t that powerful? We have this reference to Aphrodite, to spring, traditional themes almost instantly made strange by their rendering through unusual physical manipulation of paint or print. Editor: Right! It questions what constitutes "fine art" if the artist’s hand isn't traditionally "present," so to speak, but actively relinquishing control to the process and properties of the matter, and the print. Does the labor then reside within material choices and manipulation instead of refined artistry? Curator: Precisely. Think about the broader context of art production. How does this approach to process challenge conventional hierarchies between "high art" and craft, or between artistic skill and material agency? What commentary is made when these categories erode in the viewer's eye? Editor: That's really given me something to consider; thanks! It’s no longer about simply depicting Aphrodite but exploring her existence through materiality itself. Curator: And how the act of creation itself infuses her essence with raw matter! A true material engagement!