"Bathing suit censor"
acrylic on collage of recycled materials on unmounted canvas panel
72”x36”
Currently NFS
This painting depicts a police officer measuring the length of a woman's swimsuit. If the distance between the knee and the edge of the suit is too long, as, judging by the red marker on the tape measure, appears to be the case, the woman will have to change because of indecency. But the woman is represented standing, posing proudly, her hand on her hip. She looks us straight in the eye and doesn't appear to notice the policeman. They are both placed in the center of a seashell, the shell represented by Botticelli in The Birth of Venus.
Superimposed on the swimsuit is the naked body of the goddess. And it is with this swimsuit that displays the naked body of Venus that the woman is represented as hiding her own nudity for which the policeman is measuring her. A kind of mise en abyme that symbolizes the recurrence with which women's bodies are always the target of society's norms, judgments and criticisms. But how could women of flesh and blood compare to the unattainable beauty of Botticelli’s Venus? Her perfect contrapposto inherited from the antiquities, her flawless blonde hair and angelic face setting the standards for women’s beauty for centuries to come.
The way women dress (or undress) has always been strictly regulated by laws: In France, a law prohibiting "the cross-dressing of women", meaning “Women wearing pants”, which dated back to 1800, was only repealed in 2013. This law, entitled "Ordinance concerning the cross-dressing of women '' stated that "Any woman wishing to dress as a man must report to the Prefecture of Police to obtain permission.” The law had partially been lifted in 1892 and 1909, authorizing women to wear trousers "if the woman holds a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse by the hand,” but, though the law was not enforced, it was still extant until its repeal in 2013.
Bathing suit details: Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1486 (details)