ODE TO RUBENS
Part of IMMENSE expo

“Sexy is an energy, not a body type.” Rubens’ voluptuous models would fall outside today’s standard clothing sizes and would likely be told by their Instagram feed to go on a diet.

On a monumental staircase, I portray women and men, cis and trans, nude and draped in fabric, shown with pride, even when they don’t fit today’s beauty ideal. Rubens would undoubtedly have wanted to paint them.

My work never judges, it opens a conversation: a body is never just a beauty ideal, it is always a story. Rubens himself idealized only one type: voluptuous, female and white. I want to turn that narrow ideal into (art) history.