John Currin was commissioned to paint a portrait of Jennifer Lawrence for the cover of Vogue's 125th Anniversary Issue in 2017. George Clooney was styled by the Japanese conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama for a W Magazine spread in 2013. The painter Will Cotton was the artistic director for Katy Perry's California Gurls music video in 2010. Other celebrities, too, have engaged with the art world. GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE - SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST And The Carters, like The Mona Lisa, are celebrities with far-reaching influence. In both scenes, they are compared directly to their painted co-star. The scene is also a reference to their viral photo shoot at the Museum in 2014, in which they also took a photo alongside Da Vinci's most famous painting. They are presented one-to-one with the best-known portrait in Western Art, equaling it in regality. Jay-Z wears a pale teal suit with a gold medallion, Beyoncé is in a pink silk smoking jacket, richly accessorized with diamonds. In the next scene Beyoncé and Jay-Z are pictured dramatically standing alongside La Jaconde, The Mona Lisa. It then transitions inside the museum with lavishly gilt interiors appropriate to a former palace and details of fine European paintings. The video opens with a cinematic shot of a black figure with angel wings standing guard outside the Louvre by night bells chiming in the distance. It takes part in an ongoing tradition of celebrities engaging with high art, it places the uniquely American art form of rap on the same level with European masterpieces, and it corrects the lack of diversity that is often taken for granted in cultural institutions, not only in the Old World, but in the New as well. The Apeshit video is stunningly styled, choreographed, and filmed.
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It features Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the empty Louvre Museum perhaps the greatest bastion of so-called "high culture", and also the center of the predominantly white and male tradition of Western Art. The new video, shared with unwitting fans via Instagram on Saturday afternoon, has over seven million views as of this writing (a little more than 24 hours after release). The first music video for the album accompanies the single Apeshit and was released under the duo's co-moniker The Carters. The video was filmed entirely at the Louvre and was directed by Ricky Saiz, who previously collaborated with Beyoncé on the video for her track Yoncé.
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The album cover (below), as well appears to be inspired by photographer Deana Lawson whose works, writes Vulture, capture black intimacy and domesticity, a theme that is echoed throughout the video.On Saturday, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z released a surprise new album, Everything is Love, on Tidal the streaming service they co-own. #Beyoncé #EverythingIsLove /IMrVlyl6wf- Queen Curly Fry June 17, 2018 Beyoncé’s vision and talent is unmatched. This moment right here is the fulfillment of my art history degree. Y’all this #Apeshit video has me losing my shit. Hey there, so as you might know, APES**T just dropped with a clip featuring Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the so I thought I'd give you a comprehensive list of the artworks featured in it, by chronological order of appearance #Apeshit #BeyonceandJayZ - Alyx & Catch Fire June 17, 2018Īnother Twitter user, who studied art history, broke down all the powerful symbolism and imagery from the video in the brilliant Twitter thread below. The video, directed by Ricky Saiz, is full of provocative imagery and symbolism as it intersperses shots of some of the museum’s most famous artworks with shots of Queen B and Jay-Z.Īn earnest – and brilliant – twitter user made a comprehensive list of all the artworks featured in the video, complete with the connotations, in the Twitter thread below.
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The release of the album, which premiered on Tidal, a streaming service co-owned by Jay-Z, was accompanied by a stunning music video (above) for Apeshit, which was shot entirely at the Louvre in Paris and shows the duo standing in front of the Mona Lisa. “We were using our art almost like a therapy session,” he said. Jay-Z told the New York Timesin November 2017 that a joint project was in the works. Rumours of the nine-track album have been around since before Beyonce’s Lemonade and Jay-Z’s 4:44 were released. Surprise! /SYnAm6zCy7- BEYONCÉ LEGION June 16, 2018 Screens simply projected the message “album out now”. The arrival of the full-length album was announced on stage on Saturday, at their On The Run II tour at the London Stadium in the UK. It is the Carters’ debut joint album, and one that has been years in the making. And the powers of the duo have only been strengthened by the release of their surprise collaboration album Everything Is Love. Beyonce and Jay-Z are without doubt the power couple of the music world.