You could say that Olivia De Berardinis paints pinups, which she does, but I think what she captures is deeper than that. De Berardinis paints feminine sexuality. Calling these “pinups” denotes their history as fluffy imagery for men’s consumption, to be pinned up places where women aren’t supposed to be. What I see here is a celebration of the infinite power of feminine sexual energy. The same energy that’s been maligned for centuries, called the root of all evil, shamed, ignored, and obsessed over. The energy that’s robbed from women at the same time as it’s desired from them. There’s nothing submissive or weak about these women. I see women who could harness masculine energy with ease, and that’s terrifying for many men. Not because it’s evil, because it’s true that the feminine holds death in her hands. No legislation, no violence, no brainwashing can diminish its power, especially when she wants to wield it. So yeah, these are pinups, but they inspire me to conjure an ancient atomic power from my depth and utterly lay waste to the patriarchy.
