Grimes' "Selling Out"

About

Grimes' "Selling Out" refers to the Canadian musician's 2020 art piece whereby a purchaser can buy a piece of Grimes' soul. Grimes' full exhibitions were held virtually from May 2020 to August 2020 at the Gallery Platform Los Angeles and Maccarone Los Angeles. The price of the piece was set at "best offer" and news of the sale spread on Twitter and Reddit causing people to post memes mocking the piece.

History

On May 28th, 2020, Bloomberg^[1] released an article announcing Grimes' upcoming exhibitions in LA titled "Selling Out." The article described one work as "a legal document whereby the purchaser acquires a percentage of Grimes’s soul." They cited Grimes as saying, “I didn’t want anyone to buy it, so I said we should just make it $10 million and then it probably won’t sell.” She and her lawyer settled on "best offer" for the price of the piece. Maccarone^[2] gallery in LA explains the work by saying, "Selling Out is executed as a contract in which Grimes sells a fraction of her soul, formalizing the idea that every time an artist sells a piece of their art, part of the soul is sold with it. The purchaser will enter into a contractual agreement that outlines the terms of ownership and ultimately the connection to the joy of artistic expression."

Reception

On May 29th, 2020, Redditor AliceBliss82 posted a discussion thread to r/Grimes^[5] regarding the artwork. That same day, @stereogum^[3] tweeted, "the legal contract for Grimes' selling of her soul" (shown below, left). The next day, Twitter user @RobCounts^[4] reposted a Fox News article about the exhibit and added the caption, "Yo, Elon! How we gonna trust your tweets when your girl is doing this crap?!" (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 1,800 likes and 700 retweets in three days.

Related Memes

Search Interest

External References