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.