The Town Reacts — Badly, Then Worse, Then Wildly
Millbrook’s reaction unfolded in real time on the town’s Facebook group, ‘Millbrook Neighbors (Official — No Drama Please).’ The drama was immediate. Mrs. Patricia Hensley, 67, posted that she was ‘deeply concerned about the message this sends to young readers.’ Gary from the hardware store simply commented ‘WOW’ seventeen times in a row with no further elaboration.
The library’s phone rang continuously for four hours. Three people called to cancel their library cards. Forty-seven people called to renew theirs. The mayor’s office issued a statement saying they were ‘monitoring the situation,’ which everyone agreed was the funniest thing the mayor’s office had ever said.
Ms. Voss’s Official Statement Was Perfect
Danielle Voss addressed the situation Wednesday morning via a pinned post on @ClassicsAndCurves, which proceeded to gain 50,000 new followers in 24 hours. ‘I’ve always believed that classical art belongs to everyone,’ she wrote. ‘The human form has been celebrated in art for thousands of years. I am simply continuing that tradition with a contemporary lens and, yes, my own body as the canvas. I have a Master’s degree in Art History from NYU. I also have excellent lighting equipment.’
The post ended with a link to a reading list of art history books available at the Millbrook Public Library. Checkouts of those titles increased by 800% that week.
The Recreations Themselves Are… Genuinely Impressive
Scrolling through @ClassicsAndCurves is a genuinely surreal experience. There’s a stunning recreation of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, complete with a clamshell prop sourced from a craft store in Albany. There’s a Vermeer-inspired series with soft Dutch window light that art Twitter apparently lost its mind over. There’s even a full recreation of the Rokeby Venus that a Dublin museum curator called ‘technically masterful.’
The photography, it turns out, is done by Danielle’s neighbor Rhonda, a retired dental hygienist who took up photography during the pandemic. Rhonda also has 80,000 followers now. Rhonda is thriving.
