BIRTH OF VENUS

David LaChapelle is worldly known for his use of a hyper-aesthetic within typically, luxury fashion and high fashion portraiture. Before creating this image, he decided to limit his style to fine art photography and less surrounding the world of commercial photography. ‘Rebirth of Venus’ is a perfect example of how a modern day photographer can recreate historic art, depicting the contemporary culture and fashion trends that surround us today – or at the time captured. Obviously, the composition and character like figures are re-invented to interpret possible modern-day subcultures, however, Venus’s posture and positioning in the middle of the composition remains the same. I am mainly attracted to the use of the conch shell and how it is being used as a horn. Maybe this is in replace of the shell that Venus originally is stood on in the Renaissance painting, but again, modernized and perceived in a unique way. Over exaggeration of the shell in a symbolic sense could be an interesting way to link the painting and my work together, so researching into the meaning of the different shells will be useful.