It’s a Wednesday afternoon in Montreal and Summer is live streaming a painting session on Instagram.
“The Kardashians are con artists who have built careers out of scamming poor people into buying their shitty, stupid products that don’t work. So even though they’re not that rich relative to people like Jeff Bezos, I think they’ll scam their way onto his spaceship.”
She gestures to her canvas-in-progress, depicting a now infamous photograph of the aforementioned Kardashians and Bezos striking a campy mug at the 2019 Met Gala. It’s disarmingly colourful, lush, and a little creepy. Nondescript red faces linger around the three main subjects, forming an eerily fleshy background. Kendall grasps the lifeless head of Jared Leto, whose glassy eyes gaze off into the distance. Just like many of the subjects she captures, Summer’s art is both beautiful and terrifying; artfully crafted and sometimes repulsive; pure indulgence and pointedly political. It’s hard to look away.
“These people are not your friends. Kim Kardashian is not your friend! Kylie Jenner is not your friend! Kendall Jenner is not your friend! Yes, the Kardashians are not as evil as Jeff Bezos, but no one is as evil as Jeff Bezos - he’s the richest man in the history of the world; just because they’re not on Jeffy boy’s level does not mean they are not evil.”
A deeper dive into her instagram unearths an eclectic mix of celebratory (Bruce Springsteen) and satiristic (Drake) pop culture portraits, tongue in cheek selfies, and a healthy serving of memes. Recently, Summer has started documenting her painting process with “Bob Ross style” commentary, giving insight into the shockingly fast pace at which she produces her huge canvases.
She casually narrates while working on the contoured curve of Kylie Jenner’s nose: “I’m gonna do blending right now. I don’t usually do blending on underpaintings. But again, this is gonna be my masterpiece; this is gonna be my Sistine Chapel; this is my Mona Lisa, people.”
Summer’s art feels like a defiant call back and call out: an anticapitalist antidote to the pandering online personas of multinational corporations and the rock-star treatment of billionaires like Elon Musk. Only someone with a deep love for internet pop culture - and some serious hours logged online - could produce art this ironic and irreverent.
I had a chance to speak to Summer over email about creating art in the internet age, the inherent creepiness of tech billionaires, and the struggle of carrying an four foot portrait of Jeff Bezos on public transportation.
For those who may not have encountered your art before, could you give a quick intro on who you are and what your medium is?
Hello, I am Summer Emerald, sometimes known by my online moniker “rabioheab”, and I make acrylic paintings that are huge, funny, political, and slightly scary.
Just scrolling back a little on your Instagram, it’s clear that your style and subject matter haven’t always had the political undertones that jump out in your more recent works. Was there a particular moment in pop culture or politics that influenced this shift to parodying the powerful?
I’ve always had a deep hatred for the rich and powerful, I just didn’t know how to express it. I’m sure all of my friends have heard me go on a passionate rant about it at least once. I had the idea to paint Jeff Bezos for a while before I actually did it because I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Making art with political themes is tricky because it can go “we live in a society” so quickly. You have to strike a good balance. Eventually I realized that the best way to do it was to utilize my natural inclination towards humour and the grotesque. Making work with these themes feels like what I’m supposed to be doing.
It feels like there are endless options in terms of evil, way-too-rich-and-powerful subjects to satirize. What is it that attracts you to tech billionaires for inspiration?
There really are endless options, which is super terrifying. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly attracts me to tech billionaires for inspiration, but there’s something that I find so creepy and fascinating about them. I think they generally have more public visibility and celebrity than other billionaires. They’re all used quite frequently in memes and we all know the gossip about their lives, like Elon Musk’s dating Grimes and Bezo’s dick pic scandal. I think that gives the audience of my art more to go off of than if I were to be painting random oil tycoons who nobody really knows. I also think it has something to do with the speed at which they acquired such massive amounts of wealth. These people aren’t old money wealthy – they’re a different breed. They’re like little extreme wealth lab rats. It’s so bizarre when you think about it.
Most people who’ve come in contact with your art have probably done so via social media. How does knowing your paintings are circulating primarily through the internet impact the way you work?
Everything happens so quickly on the internet so I feel like I’m always in a rush to finish things and post them immediately. My work is pretty time sensitive and I always feel a sense of urgency in getting things out there. For example, with my last painting of Bezos and the Kardashians at the MET gala, I knew that every day I waited to finish and post photos of that painting the subject matter would become less relevant. So I basically went Tasmanian devil for 4 days so I could finish it while the MET gala was still somewhat fresh in people’s minds. But I honestly love that my paintings circulate primarily through the internet so I don’t mind that constant stress hanging over my head. It’s so cool to me that people all over the world can see images of my work.
What’s it like to transport these paintings around Montreal? They’re pretty hard to go incognito with, I’m sure.
Transporting them is the worst – I try to avoid it as much as I can. When I carry them down the street or on the metro, people will stop and gawk at me. Sometimes they’ll crane their necks or bend over to try to get a better look at what’s on the canvas. If I stand still for too long people will start to think I’m some sort of weird busker. I feel like Christ carrying the cross.
Finally, who has the most sinister energy: Bezos, Elon, or the Zuck?
It’s gotta be Bezos. I mean just look at him. He doesn’t even make an ATTEMPT to hide it. Zuck is a strong second place because he comes off as a weird robot trying to appear human. I say Elon is third only because his energy is more uncle trying to relate to the youth than sinister.
You can find more of Summer’s work on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to support Summer, check out her Patreon.
