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Image 1 of 1
In Culture in Decay, relics of modern myth and memory collapse into new constellations. Each work is both ruin and resurrection — a fragment of collective culture reassembled into sacred debris.
I Like Elvis (Still)
Original Mixed Media on Panel — Plaster, Oil, Acrylic, Metallic Pigment, UV Varnish (3 coats)
12 × 24 inches
I Like Elvis (Still) is both relic and reclamation — a love letter to the misunderstood idol, and a testament to the enduring dialogue between memory and reinvention.
As a middle school girl, I carried notebooks adorned with Elvis Presley’s face — small, glittering rebellions in a world that found such devotion outdated. I was teased mercilessly for it. Yet even then, I felt an almost sacred reverence for those who came before, for the raw pioneers whose rhythms built the very architecture of modern sound. My affection for Elvis wasn’t nostalgia — it was recognition. I sensed, instinctively, that his influence was still pulsing beneath the surface of every song I loved.
In this painting, the “I Like Elvis” button becomes more than a pop-culture relic; it’s an emblem of selfhood — a declaration of taste and tenderness from a young girl learning to honor her own instincts against ridicule. The textures and tones of the work — worn golds, time-softened reds, the patina of old Americana — echo the weathering of fame and the survival of meaning.
At the heart of the composition, I included Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic depiction of Elvis’ belt, a visual metaphor for the resurrection of respect. Luhrmann’s interpretation gave a new generation permission to rediscover Elvis, to look past caricature and see the artist — the conduit — who brought gospel, soul, and swagger to the mainstream. By incorporating this symbol, I wanted to bridge eras: the girl who defended him, the man reborn through film, and the legend whose spirit continues to shimmer beneath the cultural dust.
In Culture in Decay, relics of modern myth and memory collapse into new constellations. Each work is both ruin and resurrection — a fragment of collective culture reassembled into sacred debris.
I Like Elvis (Still)
Original Mixed Media on Panel — Plaster, Oil, Acrylic, Metallic Pigment, UV Varnish (3 coats)
12 × 24 inches
I Like Elvis (Still) is both relic and reclamation — a love letter to the misunderstood idol, and a testament to the enduring dialogue between memory and reinvention.
As a middle school girl, I carried notebooks adorned with Elvis Presley’s face — small, glittering rebellions in a world that found such devotion outdated. I was teased mercilessly for it. Yet even then, I felt an almost sacred reverence for those who came before, for the raw pioneers whose rhythms built the very architecture of modern sound. My affection for Elvis wasn’t nostalgia — it was recognition. I sensed, instinctively, that his influence was still pulsing beneath the surface of every song I loved.
In this painting, the “I Like Elvis” button becomes more than a pop-culture relic; it’s an emblem of selfhood — a declaration of taste and tenderness from a young girl learning to honor her own instincts against ridicule. The textures and tones of the work — worn golds, time-softened reds, the patina of old Americana — echo the weathering of fame and the survival of meaning.
At the heart of the composition, I included Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic depiction of Elvis’ belt, a visual metaphor for the resurrection of respect. Luhrmann’s interpretation gave a new generation permission to rediscover Elvis, to look past caricature and see the artist — the conduit — who brought gospel, soul, and swagger to the mainstream. By incorporating this symbol, I wanted to bridge eras: the girl who defended him, the man reborn through film, and the legend whose spirit continues to shimmer beneath the cultural dust.