I’ve never been familiar with romanticism in terms of painting, nor did I know that the key examples of what people call “romanticism” where so brilliantly iconic in art from when it was created to now. I’ve had no concept of this type of art before I started writing this essay on a series of images I am calling “Four Pounds of Flesh,” so I figured it would be in my best interest to find the words I needed to use to write this essay properly without sounding like a complete and utter ass-hat. My introduction to any of this was from the film maker Guillermo Del Toro, who’s commentary on his own film El Laberinto Del Fauno informed me of the influence of Francisco Goya has had upon his own work throughout his life. Naturally this interested me vastly because Del Toro, love him or hate him, is a true auteur. As I investigated Goya’s work I recognized one piece I’ve seen before, which Del Toro talked about specifically, called “Saturn Devouring his Son.” Upon seeing this painting I immediately was taken by how ugly, crude, and violent it is, which is most certainly something I admire in art. The painting depicts a father of gods eating one of his young to prevent his own dethronement, which the theme was extremely relevant to Goya at the time he painted this for various reasons which are better left for art history tomes.

The painting had a sleeper effect on me, it’s influence crept up my mind and a few months later I was actively attempting to find someone willing enough to not only pose completely nude but to let me “romanticize” her “flaws.” It did however take a bit longer to find someone to do this with because it’s not exactly something everyone wants to do. A few people had little interest, some ignored the concept completely until I got in contact with a dear friend of mine, who I had photographed off and on for the last five to six years. She is a brilliant artist in her own right, and saw my concept as not only beautiful but powerful, something she had to do. When it came down to the shoot it was more than awkward for her. While she did what I asked with little hesitation, it was truly a uncomfortable effort for her and none, literally none of that effort on her part was wasted. She and I had put together a set of four disturbing and beautiful images, that I am as an artist, quite proud of.

The editing process of these images was a difficult one and originally edited them the day after I took the images, and while they were good enough for the public to see, they were not exactly what I was after. However for this essay I achieved the look and feel I was after with a re-visitation to the original images. Other versions were on my deviant art page as well as on my model mayhem page, however the former was taken down and the latter still is viewable at the time this was written (5/7/2012).

Note: There is a similar project that I and another person did in the past called “This Mortal Coil” which focused on the textures and landscapes of skin. This set has no connection to “Four Pounds of Flesh.”

- Andrew J Stopper.

- Andrew.