“Best Believe I’m still Bejeweled” is an homage to Warhol’s process and product with an electric acrylic painting of photos of Taylor Swift presented in a grid, similar to Andy Warhol’s Marilyn project.
The “destruction of the sacred” by gluing art onto vinyl albums (that were sacred in Stafford’s childhood home) gave her the same feelings of guilt as if she’d desecrated the American flag ala Mapplethorpe or Dread Scott. And finally the glitter paint pen work evokes memories of 80s kids with stickers and markers drawing in a yearbook. The choice of Taylor Swift in the place of Marilyn Monroe was deliberate as Taylor has referenced herself as a product that she wants 100% control of the marketing and profit from.
Taylor Swift’s billion dollar 2023 tour, remastering of her own work in order to profit from it, and selection for Person of the Year by Time Magazine truly immortalizes that she is “The Man.” Individual Bejeweled pieces are available for $200. Best presented in a row of three or a grid of 9.
As an art piece, the different feelings and facial attributes that are created by the exact same photograph with simply different colors applied illustrates the effect of color on our perception of people.
