The print above is a modern take by Bansky (the artist who redid those Paris Hilton album covers!) on Warhol's famous series on Marilyn Monroe. This time she is replaced by the ubiquitous image of Kate Moss (truly isn't this woman in every designer advertisement? Not only is she the primary model for David Yurman, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Versace among others, she was just featured in an editorial in this month's Vogue magazine. Not too bad in light of the critical reaction last year when she made headlines for her party girl lifestyle!).
In an age in which image almost always triumphs over substance and visual imagery permeates our everyday experience questioning our personal identities, Kate Moss serves as the perfect modern Marilyn, a woman marketed for her carefully, and sometimes carelessly, manufactured image. One of the funnier Kate Moss promos is her work for Nikon in which she points a camera toward the viewer. Though Kate is seemingly grabbing her power (in much the same way Olympia claims her sexuality in Manet's famous painting. Although in the case of the traditional interpretation of the camera as phallic symbol, perhaps Kate is also taking the power away from male gaze), the advertiser lays claim on her. The punchline to the ad reads, "And Kate's not so bad either." In the world of promotion, Kate belongs to the public.
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