'Divinities' Original Artwork

Classical sculptors carved male genitalia in meticulous detail, while female statues were largely left blank, incomplete and decorative.

"Divinities" shows those statues coming to life and reclaiming what was erased – with beets. Absurd, phallic vegetables replacing what should have been carved centuries ago.

The beet is ridiculous on purpose – so was the erasure.

By making the replacement comedic, these paintings subvert the male gaze that rendered women ornamental rather than whole. The joke exposes the absurdity: if female anatomy can be left blank for "beauty," why not replace it with a vegetable? Both are equally arbitrary decisions about women's bodies.

These figures aren't asking permission – they're taking back their bodies with humor, rage, and root vegetables.

Gender as social construct, visualized.

Sabine Strauch, 2019, Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.