In 2010 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent a mastectomy. About the Works:
Vessels of Verisimilitude was a site specific photographic performance at the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair.
Inspired by the Billion Oyster Project located on the Island, Ventiko collected hundreds of oyster shells from a restaurant by her home and created a hand sewn site specific installation standing as an example of the beauty of difference. Visitors were invited to participate in the creation of live photographic works creating a demonstration of the beauty of difference for the camera, the audience and against the current socio-political landscape.
The project was featured in ArtNet and The Gothamist.
On Beauty was a SELECT Solo Project during Art Basel Miami, 2014. This multi sensory site specific installation's focus was on ethereal and carnal Beauty and was presented in the public sphere directly outside of the art fair providing access to the community.
A photographic spectacle which embraced voyeurism, the human form, perversion of art history symbolism and iconography was achieved through the creation of a 28 foot by 12 foot installation in the public sphere made out of locally sourced flora and fauna.
Passer-byers and SELECT attendees participated by posing in the installation while I photographed myself and them in highly stylized tableaux vivants.
Daily shoots resulted in a series of limited edition photographs.
The photographic experience was sponsored by Real Doll and The New Hotel and received critical acclaim via Vulture and Artnet.
Transformation of Venus and Reclining Venus depict versions of Venus beyond the traditional beauty trope.
The Other World III was created while at the Wassaic Project Residency and features the founder's daughter in a manger setting urinating on palms used during Palm Sunday which were then burnt, mixed with oil and then placed on the devout's foreheads as a cross during Ash Wednesday.
Bacchanal features Ventiko five times as different versions of herself visually narrating her personal experience with Hedonism. Bacchus is represented by the seated man in the floral wreath holding a heavy heart juxtaposing withered orange rinds and coins, insuating that when we chose Hedonism and the pursuit of materialism, our hearts grow heavy. (In vanitas and memonto mori paintings oranges were used to represent free will.) His bride played by Ventiko holding back the curtain to provide access into the cyclical chase of consumption. Ventiko is also the director and documenter of the scene (symbolized by the pocket wizard in her hand)
while in her other she offers her cat wisdom by dropping an apple. Biblical and art symbolism is included throughout the work.
Someone's Saint, From the Series Lashon Hara
Created specifically for the exhibition St. Sebastian 1530 to 2011 at Edleman Arts, NYC, this work explores the nation of sainthood and sacrifice for God. It was exhibited with Titain's master piece Saint Sebastian (c) 1530.
Judith
In 2010 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent a mastectomy. Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi 's Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1612-21, I visualized my emotional state in which three women play the Me, Myself and I.
If you have any questions please contact me directly at info@ventiko.com
Vessels of Verisimilitude was a site specific photographic performance at the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair.
Inspired by the Billion Oyster Project located on the Island, Ventiko collected hundreds of oyster shells from a restaurant by her home and created a hand sewn site specific installation standing as an example of the beauty of difference. Visitors were invited to participate in the creation of live photographic works creating a demonstration of the beauty of difference for the camera, the audience and against the current socio-political landscape.
The project was featured in ArtNet and The Gothamist.
On Beauty was a SELECT Solo Project during Art Basel Miami, 2014. This multi sensory site specific installation's focus was on ethereal and carnal Beauty and was presented in the public sphere directly outside of the art fair providing access to the community.
A photographic spectacle which embraced voyeurism, the human form, perversion of art history symbolism and iconography was achieved through the creation of a 28 foot by 12 foot installation in the public sphere made out of locally sourced flora and fauna.
Passer-byers and SELECT attendees participated by posing in the installation while I photographed myself and them in highly stylized tableaux vivants.
Daily shoots resulted in a series of limited edition photographs.
The photographic experience was sponsored by Real Doll and The New Hotel and received critical acclaim via Vulture and Artnet.
Transformation of Venus and Reclining Venus depict versions of Venus beyond the traditional beauty trope.
The Other World III was created while at the Wassaic Project Residency and features the founder's daughter in a manger setting urinating on palms used during Palm Sunday which were then burnt, mixed with oil and then placed on the devout's foreheads as a cross during Ash Wednesday.
Bacchanal features Ventiko five times as different versions of herself visually narrating her personal experience with Hedonism. Bacchus is represented by the seated man in the floral wreath holding a heavy heart juxtaposing withered orange rinds and coins, insuating that when we chose Hedonism and the pursuit of materialism, our hearts grow heavy. (In vanitas and memonto mori paintings oranges were used to represent free will.) His bride played by Ventiko holding back the curtain to provide access into the cyclical chase of consumption. Ventiko is also the director and documenter of the scene (symbolized by the pocket wizard in her hand)
while in her other she offers her cat wisdom by dropping an apple. Biblical and art symbolism is included throughout the work.
Someone's Saint, From the Series Lashon Hara
Created specifically for the exhibition St. Sebastian 1530 to 2011 at Edleman Arts, NYC, this work explores the nation of sainthood and sacrifice for God. It was exhibited with Titain's master piece Saint Sebastian (c) 1530.
Judith
In 2010 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent a mastectomy. Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi 's Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1612-21, I visualized my emotional state in which three women play the Me, Myself and I.
If you have any questions please contact me directly at info@ventiko.com