Not Another Garden Gnome

Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus' deconstructed

Botticelli's Legacy Botticelli's Legacy (2003) by Lubo KristekResearch Institute of Communication in Art

"Botticelli's Legacy"

In his artworks, Lubo Kristek often formulates his opinion on the ‘contribution’ of our civilisation and our relationship to the legacy of our ancestors. 

In his assemblage Botticelli’s Legacy, he used an off-the-shelf concrete cast inspired by the motif from the famous painting The Birth of Venus by the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Botticelli's LegacyResearch Institute of Communication in Art

Kristek’s choice points to the commercial misuse of significant artworks whose imitations are sold as a variation of garden gnomes.
Venus found herself in our toxic times where one can breathe only using a gas mask

Botticelli's Legacy Botticelli's Legacy (2003) by Lubo KristekResearch Institute of Communication in Art

The legacy of our ancestors is burdened with chains, bonds and weights. No one can escape anywhere.

Botticelli's LegacyResearch Institute of Communication in Art

In Venus' abdomen, embryos of a beast are cast, which probably symbolise the new offspring that will be born from those conditions.

Botticelli's Legacy Botticelli's Legacy (2003) by Lubo KristekResearch Institute of Communication in Art

Kristek's idea of 'warnings' crystalized into a whiteand-blue rod. In his oeuvre, it fulfills the function of a space–time exclamation mark. It draws attention to a key cirumstance.

In our hands, the legacy of our ancestors is malignantly transformed.

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