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Urban Art Mapping: Covid-19 Street Art

Marilyn with Face Mask

UAM-C19_0256.png

B-Luv

Los Angeles, California, USA

May 13, 2020

The artist B-Luv created this image in response to the pandemic paying homage to the numerous works Andy Warhol created of Marilyn Monroe. Warhol’s first work of the actress, Gold Marilyn Monroe (1962) was created through screen printing a promotional photograph from her film Niagara (1953). Warhol continued to create screenprinted versions of the image, experimenting with flat blocks of color and emphasizing in the copying the artificial nature of the original photo. B-Luv uses the flat colors and repetitive image in his stenciled version to grab the viewers attention, adding the masks to Monroe’s face as a nod to American mask mandates for Covid-19. In his first Instagram post for the image he notes, “Please stay covered and stay safe. Be Home, Be Masked, Be Love.”

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Sources:

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/61239

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/352328

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