At CONTEXT Art Miami, a California Gallery Celebrates 40 Years, Featuring Venus in Ferrari Red

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the goddess of love emerges from the sea on a large seashell. Centuries later, the imagery inspired Sandro Botticelli’s famous Renaissance painting, The Birth of Venus (circa 1480)—a work that, in turn, inspired a striking bronze sculpture by contemporary artist Roger Reutimann.

Reutimann’s Venus, like Botticelli’s, is graceful and feminine, modestly covering part of her naked body. But in the contemporary version, the subject doesn’t have long, flowing hair: Her head is a bare skull. And Reutimann’s Venus isn’t bathed in natural light or rendered in soft hues: She’s lacquered in Ferrari red, an ultra-glossy automobile paint.

According to the artist, the 2010 piece is a comment on the commodification of art and the glorification of glamour in our fast-paced modern society. Fittingly, it’s called Death of Venus.

The brash sculpture is one of several works on display this week in Hohmann’s booth at CONTEXT Art Miami. It’s a particularly celebratory moment for the gallery and the artists involved: This month, Hohmann celebrates 40 years in fine art.

Throughout the past four decades, the family-run gallery has sought to bridge the gap between classic and contemporary, highlighting the works of emerging artists alongside more established talents. It stands to reason, then, that Hohmann’s fair booth offers an eclectic range of works.

And yet there are parallels to be found in the collection. The solitary female figure of Warmth of an Echo (2016), a new piece by the sculptor JD Hansen, echoes the elegant form of Reutimann’s Venus. Instead of being painted with bright automotive paint, her torso is handwritten with lines of prose, pointing toward a subtler message—more specifically, toward the artist’s interest in human communication and belief systems.