William Soster
Edmund Rice College
OLYMPIA'S SUITOR'S ( AN ODE TO MANET AND VICTORINE MEURENT)
Photomedia
Discarded materials
My body of work began as an investigation into Renaissance portraiture and evolved through my study of German photographer Thorsten Brinkmann. Influenced by Brinkmann's use of everyday objects to conceal identity, my intention was to make something playful and nonsensical. With Manet's model, artist Victorine Meurent, as my inspiration I used thrifted clothing, bed sheets and tablecloths as costumes and backdrops to appropriate the formality of Renaissance portraiture. The resulting portraits invite the audience to question identity, representation and meaning within contemporary portraiture.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Thorsten Brinkmann, Metall-Jane von Rheinberg; Edouard Manet, Olympia.
Marker's Commentary
This humorous and conceptually sophisticated body of work presents a series of seven large-scale colour photographs that reimagine Édouard Manet’s Olympia through a contemporary investigation of portraiture, identity and art history. There is reference to Victorine Meurent, whose concealed identity is playfully acknowledged through the inclusion of a black cat, a symbol of promiscuity in the original painting, positioned upon her head. Six portraits of potential suitors, each centrally composed against highly decorative backdrops with their identities obscured through fabric and clothing. The deliberate concealment of the subjects' identity challenges conventional expectations of portraiture, encouraging audiences to engage with broader ideas surrounding anonymity, performance and representation while creating a sense of mystery and humour.
Technically, the series demonstrates a high level of photographic mastery and sophisticated camera craft. There is a strong understanding of composition that acknowledges the traditions of portraiture while reinterpreting them in a contemporary context. The carefully controlled studio lighting enhances the textures and materiality while precise staging of the subjects and sophisticated control of depth of field reveal technical confidence and refinement. The considered curatorial arrangement strengthens the conceptual intent of the series, further enhanced by the diversity of colours and forms. This material and technical mastery effectively supports the humour, theatricality and conceptual sophistication of the body of work.