Trompe le Monde

2024

Oil on canvas

137.16 × 114.3 cm (54 × 45 inches)

I see this piece as a companion to my canvas ‘King Statue of Liberty Kong’. The title is based on the 1991 album of the same name by the American rock band Pixies. The title is French for “fool the world.” The rockstar female central figure is draped in accessories like weeds, shots, cherries, and edible candy jewelry. They are excessive bedazzlements on this standard, classical Mosai of music figure. Can I fool the viewer in adding different objects to a familiar subject? I like the title, of fooling the world, because it sounds like the painting tradition of tromp l’oeil, which means “fool the eye.” I just want the viewer to feel her rocking out.