All about the icons of pop culture. Including art, music, TV series, movies and fashion. Queer in nature, straight forward in its approach and classical in an unconventional manner. From review to preview, I'll talk about it, analyze it and celebrate it! Icon Art Marilyn loves pop culture.
An icon is someone who makes an effort. Art makes an effort. Therefore art is an icon. Marilyn Monroe was and is an icon and a work of art as well. Hence Marilyn Monroe and art have a nature in common. Icon - Art - Marilyn is iconic.
Hey there! After yesterdays break in out February Anniversary Celebration today it is time for another sickening "Transformations" episode to get you gagging on the beauty my lovely volunteer Jill. So lets get into this Dita Whip style, shall we?
Obviously inspired by the pop art prince Roy Lichtenstein and his iconic signature of dots this make-up job was a little different.... on the painting side. The look is very comic art and overly sad. The dots look like the measles but in a sickening and good way! INFECTIVE! Giving a strong mixture of female stereotypical emotional instability mixed with fierce cunt attitude, letting you have it on the fake femme fatal smile side! Can I get my MoMA ticket now?
Making this look come real took me a mixture of foundation and white face paint to create the perfect canvas for this colorfully transformation. After this the black lines had to be added so I darkened Jills eyebrows, her hairline, her ears and everything else possible. After making her more dark then Americas financial future I added a dramatic eyeline, black and red lipstick and some blue eyeshadow. With this done it was time for me to sickening it up and go for the red dots. A real pop art masterpiece that made my volunteer think she had the measles!
And to get you a re more detailed insight into what Jill must have felt like during that make over of a special kind, here a few words from the pop-arted up volunteer herself:
“You want me to look like I am having the measles?” - That was my initial reaction to Dita's suggestion of transforming my face into living a pop art painting. I was not quite convinced. (Okay I have to give it to my lovely Jill here, That was an extreme transformation!) Especially because my skin was already burning from the Versace transformation we did earlier that make-up session (Stay tuned! The Versace one is my favourite!). Besides, it was late and A LOT of dots were needed. (Oh YES hunty!) It felt like ages until my face finally looked like an artwork á la Roy Lichtenstein (Or like the measles...) (She kinda takes that sickening thing a little too far, isn’t she?) Anyways, it did not look like me at all but Dita actually succeeded in producing a work of art out of it. Now I just had to put on the “Oh Jeff I love you too...”-look for the photo and voila! Ultimately I still have to add that after removing the make up my face and especially my eyes burned like hell and it took me four times of washing my hair until the black dye was eventually fully removed. But it was worth the fun! (Aww! Thanks my dear! Was lots of fun working with you! But that should as well prove that make-up is a two bladed sword!)
Okay, and last, but certainly not least, here you can see a half and half version of the transformation on Jill's face! So judge for yourself how much of a transformation this was!
Well, that's it for me today! So make sure to check back tomorrow for more sickening stuff and the day after tomorrow for Jill's Versace inspired second episode of "Transformations"! See you then! XOXO Dita! #GetWhippin
As you do know I am ahuge fan of our favorite D-List queen Kathy Griffin. And back in the days she has done an amazing photoshoot with Mike Ruiz for his transformation series.
And as she has celebrated her birthday a few days ago, I think it is time to give Kathy another run in the spotlight. Besides that, my latest article for Vada Magazine has been treating Kathy Griffin as part of the "Holy Trinity of Gay Comedy". And if you have not yet read about it then go and do so! Right here! So now take a good hard look at this drawing and tell me that Kathy was right by saying: "Now I am staning here like this and even the gays are getting hard ones. Well, to the best of their abilities!" (Cause I definitly agree!)
Bettie Paige has nothing on our Kathy! She is a cougar! (And a very sexy one!)
Okay it has happened again: a leak! I've had this topic before and I still have to say i do not appreciate leaks and the problems they bring with them. Thing is: Lady Gaga's latest pop epos should have been released earliest on November 6th in Japan, but the album has leaked in full and high quality on November 2nd. And thing is that I could not resist and have listened to it in whole. So now I can give you a track by track review of "ARTPOP". But still I will get my digital copy and my physical copy, which I encourage you to do as well, since we should support our favorite artists.
I have discussed the cover an promotional efforts of "ARTPOP" in very length. And by that I mean that I have discussed everything concerning "Applause", the "Applause" Music Video, made comments on why Lady Gagais like Tinker Belle, analyzed the leaked song "Aura" and have been tweeting about the album constantly. As well I have given you some of my opinion on the legendary "ARTPOP" album cover that Lady Gaga has been releasing slowly and part by part via her fans tweets. So we can skip the usual pre-story of the album and hump directly to the songs. Oh and by the way: That one review on a certain bad gossip webside, from a certain Person calling herself a "music journalist" on her twitter actually is so painful to read that i just want to say that never a Madonna die hard fan, and I love Madonna myself, should be allowed to write a review of a Lady Gaga Album. I mean she believes that the hips surgery of Gaga in February 2013 was fake. Yeah, and so was the moonlanding! #Idiot #Fail
I have given you my opinion on the song before. The Studio Version might be a bit different to the leaked ´Version, but actually it is even more magical with Gaga's voice beeing atonal to the Music at some point. Actually it is a great Album starter and gives you a hint that "ARTPOP" will be a joyride of all the gaga-esque things we love! That leaves "Aura" with a nice 8/10 in the ranking.
Released as part of the countdown to "ARTPOP" "Venus" has gotten ist own in depth review from me. Nothing much to add to it so I am just gonna give it a nice "I love it!" and a rating of 9/10 possible points.
03 - G.U.Y.
Wow! I absolutey love the beginning of the song. I mean the intro is very electronic but still very mystical and the song does really do it for me. I mean what is not to love about the rendering of guy to "G.U.Y."? The idea of a girl under you does not mean that one is not a feminist. (Never Forget about 3rd wave feminism!) The whole song raises the qustion of power in relationships and about the power of females in love. Possibly a feminist disco sex anthem with a great electronic undervibe. Typically Gaga - a straight 9/10!
04 - Sexxx Dreams
Definitly one of my absolute favorites on "ARTPOP". It is a mid tempo song with a twisted and naught sounding beat to it and the way she manages it to use her voice within the music and give it that robotic and electronic but still very sexy twist is just plain amazing, in my opinion. The lyrics are just absolute great and remind em of a mixture of a cheesy love Story with an affair in the middle and a great sexual romance. The song definitely lives up to its expectations and therefore gets the first 10/10 in the review of this album!
05 - Jewls'n Drugs Feat. T.I., Too Short & Twista
I love it when Gaga hits onto new territories and different muscial Genres then her usual pop, rock and electronic. And this one is her first really major venuture into hip hop and rap. Her lyrics are dark and bitchy twisted and typically hip hop and rap. But sadly I have to report that I would have liked the whole thing better with just Gaga and only one of the three doing rappers on it. Even though the beats and the electronic tunes are epic, get you to bring out your inner rapper, the song has not that much Gaga vocals to it, so it is a bit disappointing. Still a great song, but not my favorite. So that gets it a rating of 7/10.
06 - MANiCURE
Very rock, very sexy and very glam pop - you can directly feel Grace Jones and Kiss joining in. But broken down it is another typical Gaga song that will get you on your feet to dance and go up and down to it. It is all about naughtyness and rock chicks having an addiction to two things: men and manicures. But not in that silly Barbie way, but in a very independant women way. Very strong powerfull and a clear 8/10 for me!
Another song we have already heared as promotion for "ARTPOP", and also the second single due to ist huge success in the iTunes Charts. (That song has sky rocketed to the number one spot in 70 countries! And that is a new record!) A good song with great lyricas and vocals that gets me totally in the R'n'B mood. (Even though I could also get rid of R.Kelly on it, but aint nobody got time for that!) Make it an 8/10.
08 - ARTPOP
And there is the mystical title track that personally is one of my favorites. The atmosphere it spreads is a mixture of mystical rosegarden meets out of this world art show with rebirth performances. A very refreshing song that really shows how an electronic voice can be used in a high quality to actually make music less mainstream by sing a meanstream technique. Also the song really Shows what "ARTPOP" is all about: bringing things together. Another 10/10 for me!
09 -Swine
Gaga has has a feud with Perez Hilton after he allegedly stalked her. Right after her iTunes Festival Performance was called "Swine Fest" by her. Coincidence? What so ever, "Swine" is an amazingly rck and electro song that deiveres the goods everywhere. With its experimental and rough sound Gaga actually gets deep into the topic of people relation and how oneself can turn into a swine on the inside. Very good sing along song as well, ad hence a clear 9/10!
10 - Donatella
My personal favorite from "ARTPOP" is Lady Gaga's hommage to Donatella Versace. The beginning, where Gaga sings: "I am so fab! Check out: I am blonde, I'm skinny, I'm rich and I am a little bit of a bitch!", could easily become her new: "I want my whisky mouth, down over my blonde south.". The lyrics are actually so wrong sometimes that it is campy to such an extend that we have to read them ironically. The chorus gives me the shivers and the line "Walk down the runway but don't punke // its okay // you just had a salad today" gives me the big smile! A clear 10/10 for me!
11 - Fashion!
The first one where I really raise my eyebrows. I hear the will.i.am in this! And, even though I love the BEP, i am sick of will.i.am and his endeaours in music. The song is more on the slow side and sings about all things "a la mode" and fashion. But basically it is the developement of her earlier song "Fashion". Sorry Gag's but this one is just okay for me, so its just a 6/10, cause compared to the rest it seems pretty weak.
12 - Mary Jane Holland
And another favorite of mine. To get Madeon in the boat of "ARTPOP" producers was a great idea. I mean this drug inspired song is just amazing. "Russian hookers and cheap gin" is easily another remarkable and iconic lyric line that makes its way directl into my heart. And the sich and twisted beats this song has gets you to bounce your cool out and be all sexy, naughty, dirty! A definite must listen in "ARTPOP" with the guarantee of controvery! A clear 10/10, even though it really is all about weed ;).
13 - Dope
Earlier the song was presented as "I Wanna Be With you", but now changed to "Dope". But the basic message to the fans is the same since it says that Gaga is nothing wthout her fans and that she really is only half and completed by her little monsters. The first ballad on "ARTPOP" and definitely a good one. BTW: to change to "Dope" to make the Little Monsters her new must have or otherwise she'll die drug is a good shift... in my ears. A good 8/10.
14 - Gypsy
Already hyped as THE new Gaga song, I must say that I don't think so. I mean I like it and it really is a description of what Gaga is living: the live of an always wandering gysy. And this of course brings certain problems. But anyways: the song is a nice ballad at the beginnig and then turnig more and more pop and classical Gaga. A really nice song about her life and a perfect 9/10.
"ARTPOP" has been described as a night at a club, a musical journey and an experience in whole. And ehat usually comeas after such things is "Applause". A perfect album closer, since it goes iout with a big big bang! I have reviewed the song already, and you should not hesitate to read the review here. A very solid 8/10.
In summary: "ARTPOP" is a damn good album that really shows Gaga's abilities as an artist. The songs s´might not be tht chart friendly and radio playable to some points but it is more experimental then ever! With "ARTPOP" Gaga has proven to be in it for the long run and that she can combine genres, art and pop, pop and art, sex sells and feminism, self referencing and hommage and has given us a hell lot to be excited about with it. Is "ARTPOP" the best pop album since Michael Jacksons"Thriller"? Well, it sure has all the potential for it, but time has to show this. Is "ARTPOP" better than her previous albums? Hard to say, but as each Gaga album it is special. Pointwise "ARTPOP" has gained 129 out of 150 possible points which make it average at 8,6 points per song. And that is a hell of a lot and has beaten Miley Cyrus "BANGERZ" from the throne which had a song average of 8,4. So now it is up to you what you think and to Gaga, what she does with this amazing piece of music called "ARTPOP".
We have all been desperately waiting for Lady Gaga to finally smash us wit her cover for ARTPOP and make the wait for the album a little sweeter. And today she gave fans the chance to unveil it by tweetig up a storm using #IheartARTPOP, and uncovering it piece by piece. And hell, I love it!
From the very first moment on we knew that ARTPOP was going to be all about the fusion of high concept art and pop art with high concept pop and pop music. And Gaga has left us without any doubt that she has the intend to make this album part of pop culture history and to defend her crown as the queen of contempory high concept pop superstardom queen. (Jeez, that was some fucking complicated sentence!) Okay now lets get directly to the cover:
Hello, cover! It is quite disturbing I have to admit. The cover is definitely not one of the covers you love on first sight if you are not immersed into the pop and pop art discurse. You might not even like it on the second, third or fourth view. Chances are: If you are not a Jeff Koos fan or appreciator you might find this one actually just disturbing. But I love it. It has the appeal of a graffiti merged with a Botticelli painting that has collided with a scissor. And then we have slashed on some pink paint and thrown it into the mixer.
The centerpiece is a Jeff Koons sculpture of Gaga with blue ball, a part of Koons oevere, covering her v-jay jay. Actually that is qauite a good metaphor for giving birth to ARTPOP, a theme we are used to around Gaga since the Born This Way era. The statue of her actually reminds me of the statues in the Korova Milk Bar in "Clockwork Orange". The pose might be a revealing one and could even be labeled as exploitation of the female body, but in the content of pop culture and Koons it actually is a criticism of female exploitation, an absurism in the sense of classical art and an hommage to the naturalness of the act of birth and motherhood. Besides that the Botticelli background gives us all we need to see that a renaissance of pop and art and art and pop is eminent on ARTPOP, so get your tickets to the museeum and pop some shit up!
Lately I have written like five posts about Lady Gaga and what things she is about to release and what I think we will se coming. But with last nights revelation of her new single cover art work, and her first interview with the world since six months we get a deeper inside of what ARTPOP and Applause will be like.
Well of course I will put first things first and talk about the most obvious: the cover for her new single Applause, to be released on August 19th. As we can see it is a totally different approach to a cover art then we know from Gaga. If you think of her usual covers, no matter if album or single, tis one does not quite fit the grid. It is first of all white, and never before has there been a cover that has had so much white. Her covers normally are dar and have that edge of violence, power and sex. Bit that white and theatrical, make up smeared and puppet like image wows the community of little monsters once more. if we go in deeper we of course have the chalk white based face. It is like an empty canvas, on which make up is smeared. A deep blue and a fiery fierce orange contrast. Her eyer have a very starring attitude and seem to directly address the viewer. Her hair is caught behind the black turban, and her face surrounded by some white coat. Somehow the cover reminds me of a clown, but in other ways it is almost a reinterpretation of a puppet from a puppet theater, since it is some kind of lifeless. Additionally I am hugely reminded of Picasso and his interpretations of women. Important to notice as well is that there is a resemblance to this picture to classical ballet and performance art. Closing off the picture is underlined with the hand written line "lady gaga applause". The handwriting is very unusual as well, since in the Born This way time Gaga has used either bold fat capitalized letters or edgy writing. definitely a new approach. The whole cover comes off as a painting since it is surrounded by that black line, which would emphasize ARTPOP's most obvious message: the exchange between pop and art.
When it comes to the interview Gaga gave "Women's Wear Daily" she really lets us view deep into ARTPOP and how it really is concepted. She says that it has been worked on for the last 6 months, and she has started from a blank canvas. ATPOP also seems to be about beauty and especially feeling comfortable with your natural side of beauty. She, in my opinion, finally expresses the deepest thought of Born This Way, expresses the inner regions of her, and really brings them outside and makes herself vulnerable, bare and naked. This bare and naked theme has also been reflected in what we have seen until now from ARTPOP images. But she gives us a clear saying that ARTPOP is not a phase to be pinned down by the style of one image or single cover. Not every image defines an era, she just says it is the captured momentum we get to see. The article is headed by a quote, simply telling us: "Gaga: I am every Icon". And what might sound a little to full of herself might be the best way to bring that image she wants us to see and analyze out there. ARTPOP is less about sheer consumption and warholian repetition like "The Fame", less about cultivating deep dark things than "The Fame Monster" and more then sheer involvement then "Born This Way". When she is asked to explain the single cover, to explain the story behind it, she answers that the interviewer should analyze it first, otherwise it would not be art. And she is right about that. What points out is the "command" to not only consume, create and recreate the seen, heard and experienced by rather to analyze, deconstruct and understand deeply the message behind this and enjoy the craft as a construct: art.
Concerning applause she gives away that the video was directed by Inez Vinoodh, as well as her cover shoot for V magazine was done by them. The master class of art in collaboration with the master class of pop. Well that really gives us the reminder ARTPOP is about the clash and collaboration, exchange and work of art and pop together, or as Gaga would probably put it. "When Pop sucks the tits of Art!" What is so interesting about the collaboration is that Gaga stated that she never felt beautiful before she was shot by Inez Vinoodh, which brings up the question: will there be the answer to the question of what beauty really is in this album? Probably not, but wouldn't that be beautiful in its own way?
I thought about the classical age of glamour and of course the first image that popped to my head was the picture of Marilyn Monroe when she was starring alongside Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall in "How to marry a Millionaire?" Despite the fact that her role was a bit of a dumb blonde Monroe had fun on set of the movie and posed for this one photo where she ha this iconic "Don't hate me because I am beautiful!" pose with the hand in her face. Lady Gaga has also used that pose in her videos for "Paparazzi" and "Telephone". This is a campy as fuck pose and an essential one to beauty ad the perception and reception of it, at least in my mind. So enjoy!
Don't hate me because I am beautiful, its more a curse then a blessing!
I haven't posted one of my drawings for a while, and I am sorry for that but actually I try to draw as much as possible but..
(1) there are so many other good things to blog about, as you can see, and (2) I am right now in the middle of the preparation for an important exam, so my time for drawing is a bit limited. But you will for sure be able to enjoy this one of her, the one and only Marilyn Monroe, well at least I hope so!
Marilyn Monroe - Enchanting Eyes
I hope you can enjoy this one. When I drew it I was inspired by the iconic but pretty unknown pose Marilyn had while she was reading a book on a sofa She just layed there and read a book. For me this is a perfect pose because it combines her overly sexual side as well as her sensible and intellectual side, which very often is put aside. And reducing Marilyn to a sex symbol is wrong, since she was so much more!
Drag divas and queens for me are one hell of a bunch! Since I really like, love and adore them and their tremendous ability to draw a canvas called face, and make their appearance like from another planet! And one of my most famous Drag Queens is Satan's secretary and winner of season IV of RuPauls Drag Race: Sharon Needles!
And to do her spooky drag royalty some justice I did a drawing of her as Frankensteins bride. So I hope you enjoy it and think that this drawing of her drag highness is not only drop dead gorgeous but also spooky sexy! Elvira wishes and Sharon Needles paints it (On her face!)!
On this point I don't think that I have to explain why I chose to draw Miley Cyrus. So just take the drawing of her I did and enjoy it. Fashionwise I am pretty fine with the sunglasses I drew, or better said the ones that she had chosen to wear in her music video to "We Cant Stop".
Hey there! Since it is more than obvious that I have a certain affinity for Miss Marilyn Monroe I am just giving you this: Another picture of the iconic Miss Monroe. This time centered around her face. I hope you like the drawing, since I absolutely love it.
She is beautiful, she is talented and she has a big soul. A huge soul tortured by life, because she and her amazingly beautiful face, were just born in the wrong time. But anyways, even though she looks so sad: Isn't she smizing?
She Can't stop. Since Miley Cyrus has released her new song and video "We Can't Stop" I have watched the video quite a few ties. And due to its DOPE nature and crazy looks and overall conception I decided to do some drawing on this one. So here is the outcome of what i call the "I Can't stop listening to "We Can't Stop" session!" Enjoy!
Forget that Miley was a Disney princess once and TWERK, because that is what she does in such a bootylicious way. Not bad!
Miley has sure grown up to be a music force to be reckoned with, even though the promotional campaign for "We Can't Stop" is somewhere between genius and disastrous!
Paparazzi's Buzzing Around With Cameras - Take my Picture, I Wanna Be A Star
Just another drawing from the surprisingly interesting Lindsay Lohan, who hasn't got that much of a problem with her privacy. So she is "Private in Public".
Private in Public means anything goes! And anything for Lindsay means a great pullover dress with a huge amount of charm and voluptuous lips!
We all know and love her. The first Lady and reigning queen of pop: Lady Gaga! An´d this Lady has taken some selfies for her twitter over the time! Her you can see my favorite one drawn by me! Check out also everything else from the amazing "I Love Art category!"
"Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?"
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, is not only one of the biggest pop art artists or better said the pop art artist, but also he is my first love in art and my favorite artist up till today! And what he says is so right. I mean: we really just repeat over and over patterns that are in some cases right and in some wrong. But basically they are always the same.
Hey pop art lovers out there! I got a new picture for you of the queen of Pop: Lady Gaga! So get out yyour Monster Paws and turn on Born This Way and enjoy the picture:
Obviously I have taken the idea from the picture, the pose and the very pose from Gagas book "Gaga X Terry" But I just loved the pose she had on the picture, and that she had whisky in her hand! And god believe me: I love a string woman with a classic glass of whisky in her hand! Its so sexy!
With this picture i was not really sure if i could make it work. I think i would have had a hard time to really work out the face of Marilyn.
Wit this one i had doubts if i would really get it to look like gives this kissing mouth Also i thought it might have a happy undertone which the series does not.
I really liked the pose, it reminded me of something angelic. But i think i decided to leave it out since it was some sort of copy of picture #2 The Face.
Maybe I will try to make these 3 happen and then show you if they turned out or not.
Well, i think it is obvious with this picture. I just wanted to make a picture of a candle blown out by the wind, as a metaphor for the dimming light of Monroe's life.
This sip will be fatal for Norma and will make Monroe a legend and a myth. Sadly this last sip of champagne flushes down the cocktail of pills she took before going to bed. She will sleep. I decided to make this picture not blurred since we don't take on the action from Monroe's perspective, but much more from the perspective of an outsider, or the press.
Obviously in this drawing Monroe is already drunk or intoxicated. By whatever: we can see that her perception of her surroundings is already extremely blurred. She stumbles into the hallway of her house on the way into her bedroom. She seeks protection in the room she feels the most secure and comfortable.
What id like to tell you about this picture is that it reminded me of the confusion that takes part of your identity if you are constantly pressured by anyone, but you don't really know where the pressure comes from directly. And also this drawing is the first step in Monroe's destruction.
“You want me to look like I am having the measles?” - That was my initial reaction to Dita's suggestion of transforming my face into living a pop art painting. I was not quite convinced. (Okay I have to give it to my lovely Jill here, That was an extreme transformation!) Especially because my skin was already burning from the Versace transformation we did earlier that make-up session (Stay tuned! The Versace one is my favourite!). Besides, it was late and A LOT of dots were needed. (Oh YES hunty!) It felt like ages until my face finally looked like an artwork á la Roy Lichtenstein (Or like the measles...) (She kinda takes that sickening thing a little too far, isn’t she?) Anyways, it did not look like me at all but Dita actually succeeded in producing a work of art out of it. Now I just had to put on the “Oh Jeff I love you too...”-look for the photo and voila! Ultimately I still have to add that after removing the make up my face and especially my eyes burned like hell and it took me four times of washing my hair until the black dye was eventually fully removed. But it was worth the fun! (Aww! Thanks my dear! Was lots of fun working with you! But that should as well prove that make-up is a two bladed sword!)
