Muses are inseparable from the mythos surrounding famous artists. Just look to biopics like Girl with the Pearl Earring and you will find the eternal struggle for the ephemeral artist, with one foot in
this world and a toe dipped into the world beyond—the realm of creative potential—as their perfect muse embodies and frees their every artistic and carnal urge.
As Germain Greer wrote, “She [the muse] is the anima to his animus, the yin to his yang, except that, in a reversal of gender roles, she penetrates or inspires him and he gestates and brings forth, from the womb of the mind.”
How appropriate, then, that it is by this term—’the Muse’—that Miss Van now refers to her feminine creatures (which she originally called poupées, or dolls). For all its libertine trappings, the fine art class has long been mired in a conservative mindset toward sex and eroticism. The subjects of Miss Van’s oeuvre are freed from the wanting gaze and encouraged to want, to desire, and seem to be imbued with a freedom to explore the world however they damn well please.
Hi-Fructose spoke with Miss Van about her latest work, her path to artmaking, the pandemic, and more.
(By Clayton Schuster)
