MONDAY MORSEL #2: The Art Issue
An interview with a Jeff Bezos Portrait Artist
Meatspace is Lora and Sarah’s weekly digest of weird/wack/need-to-know tech news — and our warm takes on all of it. This is our Monday edition!!
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Know someone doing inclusive, interesting, and/or offbeat work in tech? Respond to this email / reach out on Insta / Twitter and hook us up! (please) (if u want)
Dear friends,
There are few art forms more vivid than, ok word uhhh, printing out all of hillary clinton’s emails on pieces of colored paper. We just……..why?!
But seriously, we j’adore art. Even and especially when it helps us view our techno-hellscape in fresh and inventive ways.
While it is cool when art stops us in our tracks, it is even cooler when artful makeup literally stops facial recognition in its tracking. Or when art is produced by publicly available algorithms and no one knows how to attribute it (remember this?!) or price it. Or when artists simply use technology to get their art in front of more eyeballs.
The latter is something that artist Summer Emerald has nimbly done. And it is how we found her. On Twitter! Amongst a sea of tech takes, four portraits shone through:
We loved them, and were intrigued by the woman behind the pictures of the man behind the Cloud. So we spoke with Summer over email about her politically charged paintings, Very Online brands, and creepy dolls:
MEATSPACE: How would you describe ur artistic style?
SUMMER EMERALD: Visually, my art is crazy, colourful, and eye catching. Conceptually, it’s funny, meme-y, and political.
What inspired you to start painting Bezos? Why these four images/are you developing more?
I’ve always had a strong hate for Bezos, and billionaires in general, I just never knew how to express it. I had the idea to start painting him a couple of months ago and it felt perfect. I chose these four paintings because I wanted to touch on various scandals that surround Bezos and Amazon – surveillance, the piss thing, and Alive Girl. I’m definitely going to paint Bezos some more in the future because there’s just so much material.
Do you think Bezos has seen ur art? You mentioned you want to get sued by him.. Have you yet, and can you explain this urge?
God, I hope he’s seen them. I haven’t been successful in being sued yet, but maybe someday. I started saying that I want to get sued by Bezos because I think it would be funny – I just love the idea of getting under his skin so much that he comes at me, guns blazing. However, I have no idea what I would do if that actually happened. I haven’t thought that far ahead.
What is ur take on Bezos affair and divorce? Is it okay to make fun of his nudes bc he has created one of the largest surveillance networks or should we respect his privacy in this difficult time?
I think he kind of forfeits his right to privacy because of the surveillance network he has created. You can’t get mad about your privacy being invaded when you allow the same thing to happen to millions of people on your watch on a constant basis. Also, the story was really spun in his favour. He hasn’t really received any heat besides jokes about his creepy texts. He obviously has an amazing PR team so he really doesn’t have anything to worry about.
If Bezos were to retire and start making art, a la George Bush, what would his medium/vibe be?
He would totally be a painter. He would probably paint really delicate, technically accurate watercolours. I feel like he would paint stuff that’s unintentionally creepy – like dolls or something.
Do you/will you paint other tech founders?
Absolutely! I have a whole list of tech founders that I want to take on – Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Mark Zuckerberg, among others. I’m particularly fascinated with people who are wealthy from tech because they gained their wealth so fast. It’s like all of a sudden they have all this power and it seems like they don’t really know what to do with it.
We also loved ur portrait of Monster Energy Ham, and your Mcdonalds series. (ed note: Meat!) What is it about fast food and brands that interests u? What is ur take on the vegetarian Whopper?
I’m really interested in the way brands portray themselves in the social media age. I think it’s so creepy how they try to act relatable, funny, and like they’re your friend. It seems like food companies are the worst with this.
With both my Mcdonalds and Monster paintings I was envisioning myself as a fanatic of their products and social media presences who was making art out of the sheer passion for the brand. I wish Burger King success with their vegetarian Whopper endeavor. I hope they can make some good tweets about it that will gain them some followers.
Thank you Summer!! Check out her Instagram.
OKAY ALSO:
This artist used AI to design a statue that he then fabricated with the remains of the shredded computer (Verge)
SFMOMA has memes on display (Washington Post)
The rise of algorithm-driven study/chill playlists a la Chillin’ on a Dirt Road + Flow State as another depressing side effect of #hustleculture (New Yorker)
What an AI artist’s solo show in Chelsea means for l’art world (The Atlantic)
A Net Art Anthology of digital art archives tracks the “joy and weirdness” of the web (NYT)
Xx,
Sarah and Lora (with a special shoutout to Nell G!)