Los Angeles artist Ben Tegel admits he has a fixation on Lindsay Lohan, and that is why he chose her as the subject for his latest work, “American Sapphic.” The piece is a parody of the classic “American Gothic” and portrays Samantha Ronson and Lohan as the pitchfork-carrying farmer and his female companion, respectively.
“American Sapphic” will appear in an exhibit called Name That ‘Toon at Hollywood’s World of Wonder Storefront Gallery along with two other pieces by Tegel portraying Lohan.
Says Tegel: “[Lindsay], along with Britney, I suppose, embodied the fin-de-siecle celebrity archetype. Her child-star-turned-drug-addict-turned-lesbian narrative seems to sum up the way fame operates in the 21st century. I’m really interested to see what happens in the next chapter of her character’s storyline.”
Hmm. The last time I checked, the “child-star-turned-drug-addict-turned-lesbian narrative” happened in real life. As far as I know, Lindsay Lohan’s life isn’t The Truman Show, although it may seem like it on occasion.
And did he just say “the fin-de-siecle celebrity archetype”? Seriously? It seems that Ben Tegel embodies the 2009 pretentious hipster archetype. (Then again, it is somewhat amusing that he technically referred to Lindsay Lohan as embodying the celebrity archetype of the turn of the 19th century, but I digress.)
Let’s look at the other two pieces in the exhibit starring Lohan.
The second piece, entitled “Rehabville,” originally appeared in Flaunt magazine. Lohan appears alongside Pete Doherty, Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse. “Rehabville” is shown in the video below. Lohan is naked and being groped by two disembodied hands. Okay, creepy. Pass.
The third, originally advertising a September 2007 performance by Hollywood-based garage band The Vacation (of which Ben Tegel is a member) at the Viper Room, can also be described as “meh.” All right, we all know Lindsay Lohan suffered an unfortunate period of drug and alcohol abuse, but heavens, she was never caught with a crack pipe! According to the tabloids, she reportedly liked cocaine served the old-fashioned way. Get your celebrity drug references right, Mr. Tegel!
I know the Lindsay-using-drugs references are a bit outdated, so I won’t ask your opinion on the latter two pieces. So what do you think of “The American Sapphic”? I believe he nailed Sam’s expression. I truly believe that one day Sam will wake up and find her facial muscles locked in that oddly sexy smirk/scowl hybrid. Well done on Sam, Ben. Well done.
