VENUS AND THE FEMALE INTUITION

INTRODUCTION

Catalog Essay by Steven Kenny

I am writing this essay months before the sculptures arrive and the paintings are hung on the walls (or, in my case, even completed). However, I’ll dare to make two assumptions without having seen the artwork on display. First, the majority of the artists here are men. Second, all the artists represented here (both men and women) do not agree on the answers to the following questions: 

Who is Venus, and what is female intuition?  

The theme of this exhibition may seem simple. But upon deeper reflection the intellectual and historical ground under our feet becomes very slippery. The organizers of this exhibition, Claus Brusen and Marcel Salome, knew exactly what they were doing. They’ve presented us (both artists and the public) with a formidable challenge that strikes at the core of human existence --- not to mention the battle of the sexes. One might even ask why men are allowed to participate in this exhibition at all. What do we know about female intuition? Maybe nothing, but we have always had a lot to say about the matter! 

Let’s begin with a general definition of intuition. A dictionary might define intuition as the capacity to know something without the use of a rational thought process. This immediately raises the following questions: Without a rational thought process, where might knowledge come from? Can “irrational” knowledge be trusted as a basis for making decisions?  

Since the dawn of time, intuition has held a sacred place and been relied on in primitive cultures. But more recently, “irrational” knowledge in the form of female intuition has been the source of criticism, fear, bloodshed and outright murder. Witch-hunts began during the 1400s and still occur today in some countries. (It must be pointed out however, since this exhibition is opening in Denmark, that the majority of witch-hunt victims in Scandinavia have been male!) 

Is there such a thing as male intuition? Studies have shown that girls and boys display the same ability to guess correct answers to questions until about the age of five. If this is true, why do males begin to lose the ability to intuit at that age? Many would say it is bred out of us in favor of a more analytical outlook. 

Intuition is a favorite subject for psychologists. Carl Jung divided the human psyche into four parts: thinking, sensation, feeling and intuition. He grouped “thinking” and “sensation” as rational and experiential. One thinks of scientific knowledge derived from cold data and hard facts. But Jung labeled “feeling” and “intuition” as irrational because both of these depend on perception. And as we know, everyone perceives the world differently. Sensory perception is an internal process and varies from person to person. Here we begin to approach the boundary between science and art.

If science is rational, is art irrational? Is creativity born from that same unconscious place where our intuition and instincts reside? One group of artists, the surrealists, actually focused their attention on the unconscious mind and dreams as major sources of inspiration, believing that these provided a truer reality than rational experience. Interestingly, Salvador Dali, perhaps the best-known surrealist, chose Venus as the subject of many of his paintings and sculptures. 

So who is Venus? (Yes, she can be spoken of in the present tense. She is very much alive and well as this exhibition illustrates!) Simply stated, Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty. She appeared in a variety of Roman forms, each with a different role including goddess of water, prostitution, motherhood and domesticity. But the Romans, like other cultures before and after them, gradually and systematically stripped her of her previous power and symbolism. In retrospect, we can see that as humans became more civilized, moved away from nature, and established patriarchies, the goddesses that they worshiped became weaker and less independent. 

One can argue that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a later incarnation of Venus. The writers of the New Testament and the male-dominated Roman Catholic church, appalled and threatened by her nudity and promiscuity, draped her in voluminous robes, made her a virgin, and reduced her further from goddess to mortal, disqualifying her from worship as a deity. There were cults that worshipped Mary but they were not tolerated. Venus, the quintessential seductress, had been cloistered by the church. 

Before the Roman Venus there was the Greek Aphrodite, wilder and less predictable. She was the Golden One. The color gold referred to her celestial origins and also to honey, an allusion to sexual fluids. Her other symbols included flowers (a reference to her sexual organs), perfume, nectar and fruit (offspring). She was a bride but never monogamous, having had many extra-marital affairs. From an insecure male perspective this was one dangerous archetype! 

But if we look back even further to prehistoric humans, God was female. In the beginning there was The Mother. She was The Great Creator, the source of all that was. From her womb she gave birth to the stars and planets, the sea and the earth. From her breasts she nourished all living beings. She was the primary giver of life, regeneration and death. She simultaneously was the original virgin and the supreme lover. In many ancient legends she was a bird goddess. She either had wings or was accompanied by birds and was believed to have descended from the black void where all creation begins. Blackness symbolizes the power of feminine wisdom. She brought light to the world, uniting heaven and earth. She was magnificent and all-powerful: loved, respected and feared. 

Intuition and goddesses have been bound together in the minds of artists from that time onward. Shamanic painters of the Stone Age worked in the deepest and darkest recesses of caves. These were the most sacred and magical of places where communion with the spirit world was best achieved. Caves are well-known symbols of both the unconscious mind and the womb. It has been found that there are many more depictions of vulvas on the cave walls than phalluses, and hundreds of small fertility figures with large breasts and buttocks have been found there as well. Was this a sexist preference on the part of the artists? Definitely not. These artists were honoring the entity who represented the primal, mysterious, feminine creative force behind all things.  

Time passed and many mythologies flourished, all designed to give us a degree of comfort in an unpredictable and frightening world. By creating imaginary personae that represent and give some explanation for the vicissitudes of life and nature, we could look to them for meaning and reassurance. Even if those mythological characters were deceitful or vengeful, at least we had a scapegoat to blame for our misfortune. 

But as we evolved and slowly untangled some of the world’s natural secrets, we gradually lost some of the awe and wonder that filled us. Scientific advances pulled at the mystical veil enveloping our perceptions of the world. We began to believe that by shining the light of reason into the dark corners of our minds and souls we would find contentment here on earth. We are creatures who hunger for the familiar and identifiable and to surround ourselves with things that can be relied upon and predicted. We tend to believe that peace and security will come into our lives once we identify, label, categorize, and file away every facet of the world around us and remove all uncertainty. But in doing this, by looking at life through an intellectual lens, we deny Venus her existence and rightful place in the world. 

Arguably, beauty and mystery have been the subject of all great art. Artists through the centuries have spent lifetimes struggling to create beauty and convey a sense of mystery through their work. Why has so much time and energy been spent in the pursuit of that which is elusive and perhaps indefinable? Is art an on-going, desperate effort to sustain the rich sensations of awe we experienced so deeply in mankind’s childhood? 

Despite the efforts of organized religion and science, artists were not willing to give up on one of their favorite and most popular subjects. The Italian Renaissance produced some of our most beautiful and memorable examples of female beauty. A few of the best-loved and famous depictions of Venus are by Botticelli, Titian and Giorgione. They depicted Venus in her natural state of nudity --- unashamed, fertile, voluptuous and seductive. Later, artists like Ingres, Bouguereau, Canova and Manet continued the tradition of creating iconic female nudes. But by this time the emphasis was primarily on her sexual power alone. She was more woman than goddess --- no longer standing for the omnipotent mistress of all that is born, grows and dies.  

Since that time, images of beautiful women have proliferated thanks to the worldwide industries of advertising, sports, music, fashion, film and television. But as those male-dominated industries spread their influence around the globe, it can be said that the reign of analytical thought is showing signs of stress. Something is obviously missing from the rational formulas employed by governments, business and science. It’s time for intuition to resume its rightful place beside the intellect. 

It said that the troubadors of the Middle Ages believed heaven could be attained through the love of a woman who is perfect in mind, body and spirit. Perhaps this is why the female form has firmly held the attention of artists since the beginning of time. Male-dominated societies have endeavored to shackle and hinder women in the home and workplace, but the fundamental mystery and power that women wield can never be extinguished. One truth can never be denied, it will always and only be women who are responsible for the greatest and most mysterious spectacle of creation: giving birth to new life. 

Finally, I will make a third assumption about most of the artwork in this exhibition. The Venuses you are looking at have regained some, if not all, of her original mystery and power. She is regaining full control of her sexuality, independence, intelligence and intuition, in large part because of the growing number of women artists who are portraying her. Today’s Venus isn’t the goddess of earlier societies --- she is now thoroughly modern and multi-faceted.