The background (which is relevant to the artistic work in question):
1.
Paris Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite, a media icon who has been quoted as saying that she is the "iconic blonde of the decade”¹ and comparing herself to Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe. Despite being criticized by many as being all form and no content and as such the "Most Overrated Celebrity"¹ it is impossible to deny that without her controversy the pop culture as we know it today wouldn’t be the same. If nothing else she didn’t copy anyone but invented herself (someone suggested that she’s actually a platform, like Digg and YouTube²) and her invention is apparently, if nothing else, at least profitable. And in today’s world that counts a whole lot.
2.
One of the important incidents that helped Paris Hilton gain worldwide attention and fame was also a home-made sex video of her that leaked onto the Internet in late 2003. This is how Paris Hilton was actually introduced to the (media) world. This is how the (media) world became Paris Hilton’s playground. This is even how I heard about her for the first time. So, the question is, would Paris Hilton still be what she is and represent what she does if she didn’t live in the age of Internet? Probably not. No other medium that we know of today would be able to promote her and bring her attention in the way the Internet did. If Paris Hilton is a pop culture and media goddess then Internet is the source or at least the base of the “religion” she represents. Internet spread the word about Paris Hilton as the bible did spread the word about god.
3.
»In September 2006, she (Paris Hilton, A/N) was arrested for driving under the influence and subsequently sentenced to 36 months probation and had her license suspended. In February 2007, she was stopped for driving at 70 mph (in a 35mph zone) and charged with violating her probation. Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail.« ¹
4.
“On May 11, 2007, a statue by Daniel Edwards entitled Paris Hilton Autopsy was revealed at Capla Kesting Fine Art in New York featuring her dead, naked, and with her legs spread. The sculpture is aimed at stopping young women from drinking and driving.” ¹

This work by Daniel Edwards quite shocked me in a way because it was hard for me to believe that a supposedly artist could so obviously fail in understanding the potential of the image and meaning of Paris Hilton by reducing her to an example based on which he could perform moral preaching. The tragedy of Daniel Edwards is that he is apparently not artist enough to realize that the only thing that makes his sculpture relevant in the context he is trying to present it in is the image of Paris Hilton itself. The same image he is trying to judge and destroy. If Paris Hilton was not who she was but who Daniel Edwards would want her to be then his sculpture would be nothing but one of those dolls which are used for medical training and education. And in his context that’s exactly what it is. With his sculpture Daniel Edwards did nothing but yet again joined the game Paris Hilton created for herself. He used her fame to draw attention on himself and at the same time he returned her the favor by drawing attention on Paris Hilton. And both are going to make money out of it. His “Campaign to Rescue Women of Youth” is a hoax. Because it won’t save lives but simply bring fame to the parties involved. If Daniel Edwards wanted to save lives he wouldn’t use Paris Hilton’s image. He did the same thing as if someone used the image of Adolf Hitler to promote the idea that Jews should be respected in the same way as any other human beings. It couldn’t get more ridiculous than this. By doing so you’d actually pay tribute to Hitler and not the Jews. By doing so Daniel Edwards actually paid tribute to Paris Hilton and no one else.

And this inspired me to use the image of Paris Hilton as the main protagonist in my work as well. Despite the fact that I was never fond of using already made content that would be a statement by itself. I always preferred to create the content and meaning by myself. But in this case I was just challenged by the fact that in my opinion no one was really able to artistically depict the image of Paris Hilton in the way that would really grasp the true essence of the Paris Hilton phenomenon. And the time couldn’t be more right since Paris Hilton is facing the jail.

I think what most of the people don’t understand is that the concept of Paris Hilton is very similar to the concept of the holy trinity. Paris Hilton created her show, she is performing it and she is at the same time the biggest fan of it. No matter what is going on around her she is simply too strong in her concept to be threatened in anyway. Telling her she is cheap, empty, pointless, stupid, spoilt etc. can’t possibly bother her. It’s like telling the god that he doesn’t exist. She can only be threatened from within and by her own self. The jail sentence is a test for her. Is a test for her “divinity”. The question now is: is she still going to be her fan if she had to actually go to jail? Is she still going to believe in her “religion” which she created and which she represents? Will this be the end of Paris Hilton or will this actually be something that we could compare to the crucifixion of Christ after which no one could doubt in her “divinity” anymore?

References:
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² Link

The visual aspect and the meaning of the work:

The work is based on a more or less typical image of Virgin Mary and her son Jesus. The original faces of the two have been replaced by Paris Hilton’s faces. The face of the Virgin Mary was replaced entirely while the face of the Jesus was replaced only in part (the eyes, the nose and part of the cheeks – the image was taken from the movie House of Wax) to make it look like he was wearing a mask. So, both Virgin Mary and Jesus appear as the same person – Paris Hilton. This is to symbolize the moment when Paris Hilton is facing the limits of her fame and social status, the limits of her “divinity”. Despite everything she is and everything she has and everything she represents (wealth, fame, media icon status) - despite her “divinity” - she is still facing the possibility of having to spent time locked in a prison with common criminals and law offenders. It’s just like what happened to Jesus when he was crucified together with two common criminals. And of course this brings her doubts and brings her fears and brings her disappointments and sorrow and sadness that are difficult for her to accept. She’s now suffering because of her “divinity”. And we can see this internal struggle and torments on the face of Jesus. Jesus’s eyes show that he has been crying. You can read fear in his eyes. You can read the need for protection and help he’s hoping to get from his mother. You can read him asking his mother why is this happening to him, wondering why she couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything about it. On the other hand the Virgin Mary looks calm and detached, even cold. She’d still let Jesus be close to her and she’d share the warmth of her body with him offering him some comfort. But at the same time she appears as not being particularly touched by her son’s pain. Like she believed that the show must go on and that everything that is happening to her son is just part of it. She seems to be more concerned about her appearing beautiful than anything else – nice blonde hair, long and sensual eye lashes, sexually inviting lips and a perfect, smooth skin. It seems like nothing could trouble her “divinity”, not even her own son’s tragedy.

And last but not least the importance of this work is also that it symbolizes a trial of the world we live in today. Paris Hilton is a product of our time and the evolvement of our culture and as such it is defining it as well. And her life and her image have reached a certain cultural status which is influencing so many aspects of our society. The image of Paris Hilton helps selling or promoting so many other products and even life styles. It is building ideals and the same time it produces disgust among certain people. It almost grew up into something so huge that it could even symbolize the battle between good and evil where both good and evil are not clearly defined. And the jail sentence brought everything to epic proportions. The crucifixion of Jesus gave birth to the most spread religion on earth. Could the “crucifixion” of the celebrity goddess have the same effect? For the followers of Paris Hilton, seeing her in jail would produce the same trauma as the crucifixion of Jesus produced among the Christians. This work is meant to be an icon or even an altar and at the same time the mirror of the images and values that are defining the world we live in today.

The concept behind the work:

This work is meant to be a symbolic portrait, not of Paris Hilton as a real person, but a portrait of her image that was created by the media. And what is supposed to make it a portrait is not so much what it visually shows and represents but how it was conceptualized. Paris Hilton is a celebrity in the purest sense of this word. Paris Hilton is famous for being famous. What makes her a celebrity is nothing else but the status of celebrity she has. This is what makes her be the biggest celebrity in the world. This is what makes her “divine”. Her celebrity status is not a result of something but is her essence. And because of that the image of Paris Hilton that is being created by the media is more real than Paris Hilton as a real person. Paris Hilton is one of the most known personalities in this world but what people know about Paris Hilton is not Paris Hilton as a real person but is Paris Hilton as a media image. And this fact forced me to create her portrait with what she is made of - images created by the media. I couldn’t make her portrait by creating it from scratch and by myself (because that couldn’t be accurate enough to actually be her portrait) but I had to take something that was already created and was created as an image meant for the media and in this way was created for the consumers, for the masses. And so I went looking for her images on the Internet. On the same Internet that helped Paris Hilton to become what she is today by spreading that home-made sex video around the world and make her famous. This was the only way to create this work in the way it was conceptualized. I made use of the concept of ready-made objects which in this case come in a digital form and which were ready-made before I actually chose them. Inside my concept they were like “color for my painting”. They were part of my artwork already before I chose to use them because inside my concept their meaning, purpose and use were already defined in the way to be part of my work. In the same way as oil paint is meant to be used for painting before the artist actually chooses to buy it and use it, the images of Paris Hilton and others I took from the Internet were already meant to be used for my artwork before I actually decided to use them. They became my “oil paint” when I decided to create a portrait of Paris Hilton. That’s why my work is actually defined as “Internet on canvas”. Because the Internet was my “paint”.

Another important aspect of my work is the price of the work was set as a concept as well. The fact that I can hardly classify as an artist because so far I have no relevant artistic references should obviously have a significant impact on the price of my work as well. No matter how good my work might be from the point of artistic standards and criteria my anonymity would still play a bigger role when it comes to the price than the actual quality of the artistic idea and its execution. Because the market in general as well as the art market are ruled by brands not necessarily by quality. A brand is what gives the product a certain value and price more than quality itself. Armani’s clothes are not so much expensive than some other clothes simply because they might be so much better but because they come under a well established and famous brand. And the same goes for artistic works as well. The works of Jeff Koons for example might not be that much better artistically than my work to deserve such a higher price. The difference might be just that Jeff Koons is a famous and well established brand while I am not. Considering all this I wanted to give my work a status of a brand as well. I wanted my work to not simply be an artistic expression but a brand as well. And basically I achieved that by simply using the image of Paris Hilton as the protagonist of my work. Because Paris Hilton is a brand as well. Her image is a brand. And as I wrote before Paris Hilton is not really Paris Hilton as a person but she is Paris Hilton as the image of Paris Hilton. The image of Paris Hilton is more real and true than Paris Hilton as the person. The image of Paris Hilton is more relevant than the person behind the image. And considering this my work can be classified as being not about Paris Hilton but being Paris Hilton herself. Because it’s an image of Paris Hilton that is actually the real Paris Hilton. So, basically what I am selling is Paris Hilton because what I am selling is her image – an idea of what she is and what she represents and what she means. And as we all know Paris Hilton is worth a lot of money. That’s why I can only sell my work for a lot of money despite all other circumstances would speak against it. But the concept of my artistic idea turned my work into a famous and well established brand allowing me to sell it for a lot of money. And it also made the artist quite irrelevant and not important. Actually, this artwork doesn’t even need an artist because this artwork is already a brand that can sell for what it is. And by this an interesting effect was achieved when it’s not the artists who is selling the artwork and giving it a value (as it usually happens) but it’s the artwork that is selling the artist and giving him the value. Because my artwork is much more worth than I am worth because it’s a famous and established brand while I am someone with no name. My artwork is not worth as much as I am worth as an artist but I am worth as an artist as much as my artwork is worth. By applying this concept to my work I even more established it as the most accurate portrait of Paris Hilton ever created.

Summary:

I wanted to create a portrait of Paris Hilton and to do so I could only use media images of Paris Hilton which were already created to create yet another image of her. Because her image is more real that the real person behind the image. And by doing so I actually turned the Internet medium (from which I got the images of Paris Hilton) into “paint” for my artwork.

To achieve the best possible accuracy in making of a portrait of Paris Hilton I manipulated with the price of the artwork as well. By setting the price much higher than it should be set considering all the circumstances I basically added a quality to my work which helped me achieve my goal – creating the most accurate portrait of Paris Hilton possible. In this way, my portrait of Paris Hilton might be even more real than the real Paris Hilton. Because one of the aspects of Paris Hilton is that some people believe she is the most overrated celebrity. And in relation to that it could be that considering the price of my artwork also my artwork, which is a portrait of Paris Hilton, could be the most overrated artwork ever created. And this is yet another aspect that confirms the amazing accuracy of the portrait of Paris Hilton I created.

P.S.

26Th, October, 2007

This work was created on the 25th May, 2007. This was a few days before Paris Hilton began serving her jail sentence on 3rd June, 2007. There was no way I could know then what kind of influence would this experience have on Paris Hilton. But aparently my vision was right. I portraited Paris Hilton in a role of a divinity. So, in a role of someone who is supposed to do good and bring love and hope to this world. And that is exaclty what Paris Hilton apparently turned into accoring to the news or at least this is the impression she wants us to get which even further establishes my work as the most accurate and even visonary portrait of Paris Hilton ever created:

Paris to visit Rwanda to fulfill post-jail vow

Paris Hilton is planning to visit Rwanda in November this year, as a part of her post-prison commitment.

Washington, Sept 26 : Paris Hilton is planning to visit Rwanda in November this year, as a part of her post-prison commitment.

The hotel heiress said that she wants to spread awareness about the African country, where genocide is rampant and show people what they can do to help.

"I'll be going in November, after I get back from filming my movie," E! Online quoted Hilton, as saying.

"There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help," Hilton said of the region.

However, Rwanda is not the socialite's last stop, for she plans to visit more countries that are plagues by poverty and children's issues.

"I want to visit more countries where poverty and children's issues are a big concern," Hilton said.

"I know there's a lot of good I can do just by getting involved and bringing attention to these issues," she added.

Apart from working for noble cause, the 26-year-old is also planning to make her new Beverly Hills home more "green friendly."

"I just bought the house and haven't been able to work on it yet. But I intend to," Hilton said.

Reference:

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