Ashtaroth 1993

Editor: This is "Ashtaroth" by Boris Vallejo, created in 1993 using acrylics. It's a very dreamlike image. A nude woman reclines on a crescent moon surrounded by a starry sky. What strikes me is how hyperrealistic the figure is set against the more illustrative background. What do you make of this contrast? Curator: This piece really foregrounds the means of production. Look closely at the female figure: Vallejo’s masterful command of acrylic paint transforms her into an idealized, almost hyperreal, object. He's showcasing his technical skill. But what does this say about the role of labor? Think about the painstaking process of layering paint to achieve such smooth skin tones versus the relatively less defined rendering of the background. Editor: So, you're saying the technical execution itself carries meaning? Curator: Precisely. Consider this was made in 1993. What was the prevailing cultural narrative regarding the female body? The image is consumed as much as it’s looked at, packaged and sold as fantasy. Ask yourself: What is she selling? What about the material reality of being a woman versus the commodified image he creates? Editor: I guess the romantic, escapist imagery almost disguises how constructed it is as a product of labour and societal expectations. It feels very removed from real lived experience. Curator: Exactly. The fantasy elements, the celestial setting – these deflect from a deeper engagement with the materials and their implications. He's using Romanticism, maybe even orientalism tropes, to further emphasize the labor, skill and effort involved in crafting this "idealized" vision and distracting viewers from recognizing cultural constructs. Are you surprised? Editor: It's certainly given me a lot to consider about fantasy art and how much craft goes into building a particular vision, maybe more that I first recognized. Thanks for that insight! Curator: And I found our talk fascinating; material analysis exposes so many more assumptions that underpin what we consider "art".