Venus Visits The Homestead Resort

Lorena Kloosterboer wrote a review of the Visions of Venus show which will be held at the Zhou B Art Center, in Chicago, Illinois in April 2018. Of this painting she wrote: Mike Brewer is an American artist, based in Virginia, whose subject matter covers portraiture, figure paintings, and landscapes. His process is distinctly based on classical oil painting methods through which he achieves elegantly balanced compositions where the subject matter is often prominently centered. Brewer states, “There is enough ugliness in the world. Paintings should be about beauty.”
Brewer’s paintings display sophisticated color palettes in which subtle, often muted colors are regularly paired with strong, vivid hues. Thoughtful brushstrokes create visually engaging content, merging edges, shapes, and background together in graceful harmony.
Brewer’s eye-catching painting, entitled Venus Visits the Homestead Resort, shows a young woman posing as Venus at the indoor pool of the Omni Homestead Resort, capturing a combination of the artist’s two favorite subjects; the natural beauty of the female nude and the beauty of man-made environments. The sinuous nude represents Venus as the epitome of grace, mystery, and splendor. The desire to touch and possess this perfect woman will inevitably remain unfulfilled as Venus is an illusion, only to be admired from afar. Likewise, the man-made beauty in classical architecture found in public spaces can be appreciated but never possessed.