Venus (In Utero)
Several paintings have been done of the birth of Venus, but none that I know of of the gestation of Venus. And, being as she was born of the ocean, it seems a likelier gestation to picture than most. Otherwise, I was hopeful for love, and wanted to believe that it was developing somewhere for me, like Venus developing in the water. Like “the Temptations of Saint Anthony,” this was influenced by the underwater photography of Howard Schatz.Although I often use nude figures, it is seldom that I depict genitals. However, Venus’s fetal position exposes her vagina, which I chose to do because of her association with sex.