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Artist Who Inspired Kanye's Controversial Video Says Kanye Is A True Artist
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 29, 2016
Modified Jun 29, 2016
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 29, 2016
Modified Jun 29, 2016
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From Kanye's video
Vincent Desiderio’s painting
Kanye's getting a lot of publicity out of his latest music video, a controversial piece paired with his equally controversial song "Famous." The video features the naked bodies of twelve celebrities—Kim, Kanye, Caitlyn Jenner, Amber Rose, Ray J, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Donald Trump, George Bush, Bill Cosby, Anna Wintour, and Taylor Swift—all asleep in a giant bed together. Kanye won't say which, if any, are real, but they appear to be very lifelike wax figures. The scene was pulled from Sleepy Hollow, New York artist Vincent Desiderio’s painting, titled “Sleep," and he didn't find out about it until right before last week's video release.
The NY Times spoke the 60-year-old Desiderio, who misheard "Kanye West" for "Conde Nast," when the call came in. That call was an invite from Kanye to come out to Los Angeles, where he met Kanye and his team for a personal screening of the video his work inspired—"I was almost in tears... we just hugged each other," he told the Times. Desiderio was not offered any money, but he says he would not have accepted it anyway.
He goes on to explain that "Kanye saw things in [my painting] that I don’t know how he could’ve seen. Kanye is truly an artist... the way I understand him now is that he’s much more like Andy Warhol... he’s like an exploded internet version of Warhol... He’s mirroring the times. His whole life is performance art."
When asked about Lena Dunham's criticism of the video, he disagreed with her, declaring: "Art goes to dangerous places. It’s like saying, 'Hitchcock, that guy must’ve really loved killing women.'" Where Dunham saw "the prone, unconscious, waxy bodies of famous women, twisted like they've been drugged and chucked aside at a rager..." Desiderio saw them as "sleeping and vulnerable, like babies."
Dunham's reaction was likely rooted in the fact that her friend Taylor Swift is one of the bodies in the bed, and the song features these lyrics that Swift has publicly taken issue with: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex... I made that bitch famous." Just prior to the release of the video, a rep for Swift told GQ, "Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West and Kim Kardashian will not just leave her alone."
The video is only available on Tidal, which you need to sign up (and pay) for.
Kanye's Music Video 'Famous' premiered on @TIDALStatus #kanyewest #TidalXFamous #famous pic.twitter.com/9hbMDBoAhH
— Shady Music Facts (@TheShadeAccount) June 25, 2016
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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