«Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams»

Around 1490 Leonardo da Vinci drew a man standing inside a circle and a square, arms and legs in two positions at once. He was testing the Roman architect Vitruvius, who wrote that the human body follows fixed proportions. He filled the page with notes in mirror writing. The drawing is kept in Venice and is rarely shown.

That drawing is where this painting starts. I kept asking what an ideal body means now, when we measure ourselves against screens, not compasses. I wanted to turn that question into Leonardo da Vinci pop art.

A young woman with long blonde hair sits against a dark wall, silver nails and rings. Her face is cut by a strip that slides sideways, with black bars over her forehead and eyes, the way a bad video call freezes. She wears black sleeves, a pearl and diamond necklace and a belt with a gold fashion-house buckle. Across her bare torso, brown paint drips over a thin line drawing of the outstretched man, with a red shape, a white dove and two reaching hands below. Small square panels on the left show eyes and an old bearded face.

In 1919 Marcel Duchamp drew a moustache and goatee on a cheap reproduction of the Mona Lisa. In 1963 Andy Warhol silkscreened her thirty times. The two hands come from Michelangelo, who painted them on the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. Duchamp and Warhol made Leonardo da Vinci pop art long before me. Mine is contemporary pop art with a glitch.

The perfect proportions are drawn in thin line, and the glitch sits on the face. To me that is honest: a classical ideal underneath, a bad connection on top.

This is an original pop art painting, oil and acrylic on canvas, 120x90 cm, and works as statement wall art. Most of my original paintings are already in private collections, but I paint originals to order in any size. To ask about this one, message me on Instagram or by email. A hand-finished lithograph of this work also exists, and you can order it through Instagram or email.