HailMaryKardashian.com Print - Limited Edition of 1

Kim Kardashian is one of the most popular figures on social media, with tens of millions of devout followers. She can charge thousands of dollars for a single promotional tweet. Her fans purchase Kardashian products with a cultlike following befitting that of consumerist blind faith. Kardashian has even compared herself to the Virgin Mary in an episode of her irreprehensibly forgettable show Keeping Up With The Kardashians. How can a vapid woman with no recognizable talent become an international superstar? What society laudes the unlaudable based on the simple presupposition that social proof created by popularity legitimately begets more popularity; which is then transmogrified into global fame? Inspired by the Catholic Immaculate Heart of Mary, this artwork challenges by the juxtaposition of Kardashian portrayed as the Virgin Mary vis-a-vis the image of categorically unpious full-frontal nudity. Morality, virginity and piety intrinsic within the Heart of Mary are in direct contradiction to the open robes exposing the subject in a striking depiction of full-frontal nudity. Emperors can have no clothes and saints aren’t necessarily saints; indeed, they can be sinners. Kim Kardashian’s sanctimonious cloak of pop culture-sainthood is stained by the raw sex tape that propelled the star’s career into Hollywood’s stratospheric echelons. Whereas the entire myth of the Virgin Mary is built on the lack of sexual contact with the Holy Father in the creation of the Jesus myth, Kardashian’s myth is built directly on the act of sexual contact — as evidenced by her infamous sex tape with singer Ray J was released in 2007. Mary Kardashian’s devotional heart invites the viewer to explore the virtues and intentions of Kardashian herself. Whereas the Immaculate Heart of Mary exudes the Virgin’s love of God and Jesus, Kardashian’s love of fame replaces the venerable heart of Mary. This sacrilege is exemplified by the characters circling Kardashian, exhibiting fear and disbelief on their faces. The conversation broadens as technology and social media are brought into the picture. Kardashian’s significance to the technology lies in the very way her fame was birthed– it was a child manifested on the internet. From the leaked online sex tape, celebrity blogs and social media marketing — the internet created Kardashian as an icon. Interactive Sacrilege The artwork transcends the analogue and jumps into the digital realm, brushing off any attempts at living in only one medium. Adrian Tripon explores Kardashian, sainthood and fame through custom webpages, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and more. 1) http://HailMaryKardashian.com The journey begins at a ficitious porn site. A jarring first chapter in the online narrative of Kardashian, the clear sexual encounter between Kardashian and singer Ray-J is a lurid exploration of Kardashian’s own “immaculate conception” into the annals of fame, with the internet as the catalyst — or inseminator — of the birthing of Kardashian’s star. 2) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid1.html Sheeple come in many different forms and sizes. From miscreants, the unwanted, to the girls next door. This particular distinctly explores Kardashian’s function and status among those that are part of her cult of fame. Like brainwashed lemmings, there is no antidote to Kardashian’s star. 3) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid2.html Does the subject have some talent after all? 4) https://twitter.com/UnKimKardashian/status/408417608854011905 The first interaction with Kim Kardashian her Twitter account as she hawks the most preposterous of products to her fans. The blatant marketing is sour, just like the taste of the lemon juice she is pushing. The acrid taste leaves a revolting feeling melded to your tastebuds, yet the masses are still drawn to the ridiculous products Kardashian sells. 5) http://KKLemonJuice.com Lemons are sour, absolutely abhorrent to eat by themselves. The common maxim, “Turn lemons to lemonade” is true, just not here. This portion of the artwork explores not only the ability for Kardashian to pawn almost any item to her followers, but the very nature of her marketing and positioning to the public. Disguised in a veneer of glamour, yet the undercurrent is as sour as the Rhine filled with metric tonnes of lemon juice. Interestingly enough, this doesn’t matter. The American public’s voracious appetite for the new, effortlessly pushed on blogs and social media, continues to feast upon the wares pop culture icons like Kardashian feed them on a daily basis. The belief in celebrity trumps one’s own logical assertions. 6) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid3.html Ablaze with the news of Kim Kardashian’s wedding to Kris Humphries, the internet lit up like a metaphorical hive of fireflies on a summer night in New Orleans. With a marriage lasting a mere 72 days, or roughly the collective life span of two houseflies, the marriage was viewed by a good portion of the public as a sham. A kind of reality-television-narrated-on-social-media publicity stunt that involved the lives of real people. The Kardashian brand and her omnipresence on social media still maintains to capture the public’s attention, as is explored by this particular chapter of the artistic narrative. 7) http://FakePeopleMagazine.com A purposely gaudy and fake cover of People magazine with the heavily literal headline of “Fakest Marriage Ever,” Kardashian and her beau look recognizably awkward. Kim’s body language shows her tilting away from her husband, while the befuddled Humphries has an awkward and beffudled look on his face. Like the hapless Maury Povich Show guest who has no clue why he’s center stage in another “you are not the father” episode. In this case, Kris was — in Povich-speak — “not the husband,” but the fall guy for a Kardashian PR stunt. 8) http://facebook.com/CheckItOutPeeps Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Mozart… massive talents transcending generations are celebrated in this infographic. This particular chapter of the narrative not only questions what talent truly is, but questions social media as art. Infographics are almost as pervasive as the hatred of Tea Party members on the streets of San Francisco. More importantly it also questions the utility of the infographic as a medium capable of inspiring deep and reflective thought, or is it the equivalent of intellectual fast-food for the brain? Furthermore, what is the relationship of talent to Kardashian. How does with so little talent get away with so much… 10) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid4.html Heavens no! Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci are not on the sheeple’s Facebook news feed. A blasphemous offense in the age of social media. This particular portion of the piece explores the idea of relevancy in social media and whether awareness of a meme or idea is based on personal preferences and predilections or by an intellectual vanguard representing the collective consciousness of the whole. In this case it is clearly the former. 11) http://TracyHotHot.tumblr.com Did you see Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are together? In the 24 hour news cycle, or the ephemeral informational cycle of social media, the wedding to Kris Humphries is quickly forgotten and the latest nugget of news regarding the social media queen’s saga is presented on Twitter. 12) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid5.html Cynicism notwithstanding, enough is said in this particular piece. The love of “the now” and Kardashian’s manipulation of the present through social media is invoked and explored in this portion of the narrative. 13) http://KimKardashianIsSoAwesome.tumblr.com/ The pregnancy of KimKardashian is revealed to the viewer, reminiscient of Demi Moore’s famous August 1991 Vanity Fair cover of her nude and pregnant with daughter Scout. It is important to ponder the circumstances of the pregnancy in relationship to the analog wall-art and its meaning as well. 14) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/vapid6.html The effects of Kardashian’s personal branding is taken to a rhapsodic extreme when she feeds the metaphorical fame-beast. In this piece, the unwitting public politely obliges, feeding into the next chapter of the artwork… 15) http://instagram.com/p/hhghRojRWu/ Relentless self-promotion and a lust for online fame cause this to occur. In our current state of capitalistic endeavor, this piece is the anchor upon which modern consumerism finds its symbiotic nature vis-a-vis the culture of fame. 16) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/elephantintheroom1.html Social media fans and the buying public are faced with the proverbial “elephant in the room.” Kardashian’s source of fame is not noted by the minions following her nor the major corporations lying in bed… ahem… with her. Clearly an allusion to the sex tape, this explores the online public’s ability to intellectually explore their own virtues and desires without relying on the heuristics provided by online social media and pop culture. 17) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/elephantintheroom2.html The literal elephant in the room is faced with the symbolic elephant in the room, as clearly displayed by the Kim Kardashian logos that look oddly like stylized male genitalia. 18) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/elephantintheroom3.html The elephant sheepishly divulges its knowledge to the metaphorical public in this step along the narrative. 19) http://youtu.be/vebv-Z4S5Bk A simple chord progression provides the backbone to the song “Fake,” which is the audio portion of this multimedia work of art. Strangely void of a rhythm section, Tripon makes us focus on only lyrics and melody in this direct assault on modern pop-culture. From Kardashian herself, to news meant to politically marginalize the masses– the perception of reality as “Fake” explores the myth of the superstar, like Kardashian, but further addresses the myth of the Virgin Mary through the song’s existence in a merely contextual basis as a piece of this art. The listener can ascertain the direct topline discussion in the lyrics, but the individual is also invited to question the song’s relevance to the meaning of the entire piece. 20) http://HailMaryKardashian.com/sinnerorsaint.html The viewer is questioned if they are a “saint” or “sinner” when it comes to following their own judgment or that of the insanely famous that shape pop-culture and sell their endless wares to the populace. This portion also explores the analog version of the artwork and discusses the artist’s depiction of Kardashian as the Virgin Mary, prompting the viewer on an exploration into the artwork’s meaning as a whole (both the interactive and the analog.) 21) http://KimKardashian.com Clicking on either the “sinner” or “saint” link in the last chapter, the viewer is taken to Kim Kardashian’s real webpage hosted on the aptly named “Celebuzz” website. Perusing through the various posts on the site, which mostly relate to the sale of Kardashian products, the viewer explores public’s direct involvement in the creation of our modern-day icons of wealth and fame. HailMaryKardashian.com 40 x 51.7 inches 101.6 x 131.3 cm One-of-a-kind CGIF on aluminum, Websites, Facebook, Twitter pages

Print:Giclee on Photo Paper

Size:8 W x 10 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:13.25 W x 15.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.