New artwork has been released to celebrate the film icon, Marilyn Monroe. The artwork has been created using 150,000 crystals and commemorates her 100th anniversary. San B, an artist from Essex, took 1,000 hours to build the piece, placing two-carat diamonds and crystals by hand to create the end result. The artist wanted to create something culturally significant while honoring people’s fascination with crystals.
Our Fascination with Crystals in Modern Culture
Our love for crystals is undeniable. Classic films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ocean’s 8, and Stardust all feature rare gems. Newer movies, like Uncut Gems, also feature unique crystals, including the Ethiopian opal, which entered circulation in the 1990s after major discoveries were made. Podcasts, like Crystallography, feature Melvyn Bragg and several guests, who delve into the history of crystals.
In other entertainment verticals, Paddy Power online bingo games also feature crystals, with bingo rooms like Crystal Room and Diamond Room being wholly focused on rare gemstones and their allure.
Modern entertainment has done a great job of keeping the value of gemstones in the spotlight, and has, in turn, helped to give pieces like this new crystal portrait more coverage. The artwork is currently on display at the Images Gallery in London.
The artist has released a statement saying that Marilyn Monroe isn’t more than a film icon, as she is one of the most recognizable figures in modern history. Not only does this provide the perfect foundation for such a piece, but it also helps to highlight how much cultural appeal she had. The artist, over the years, has also created portraits of Bruno Mars and Anthony Joshua, who are on display at The Savoy and the popular auction house Christie’s.
An auction for the piece will take place in late July; however, a date has not been set yet.
Marilyn Monroe and Other Famous Art Pieces
This isn’t the first time that Marilyn Monroe has been used to create a piece of art. Steve Penley, an American artist, diverged from the idea of pop art and instead created a piece that was raw and dignified.
He used dynamic brushwork and wanted to portray the fact that she was a symbol, as well as a woman of power. Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol is another example. It was created well after his death, with Warhol using the publicity still from Niagara to create two canvases with 50 images of the actress. The work is on display at the Tate Modern right now.
Marilyn Monroe by Willem de Kooning, an abstract expressionist, is another famous piece. It’s on display at a museum in New York, and unlike Pop Art, he decided to go with an aggressive oil painting style.
It was painted while she was at the height of her fame, with de Kooning able to capture the celebrity culture at the time and the way she was viewed by the papers. Not only did this create a powerful piece, but it also went down in history as one of his most famous works.
