CONSUME That Lemonade, Bey!

Written by Creator Hal Hefner on Creators.co

Beyonce kicked off her new album LEMONADE with a movie style artistic expression that premiered on HBO. Immediately after it was released the online fighting and commentary began. Commentary about commentary. WTF? Yep. I'm serious.

Commentary about Commentary

The hype machine of Tidal produced a powerful wave that created a backlash against any criticism or commentary on Lemonade. As this unfolded across many social media networks it was fascinating to watch.

Regardless if you think Beyonce is good or bad or love her or hate her, Lemonade has clearly stoked a racial debate on who is allowed to comment or understand black culture---if you don't belong to black culture. Basically who can give commentary and who can't based on race and in some cases gender.

Now as we know from all internet debates driven by emotion, they eventually die down and go away. But will this? Will this be something different altogether? Is this a needed conversation and if so what TRULY is the conversation?

IMHO---It's a very interesting topic that actually calls into question, not as much of a cultural and racial divide when you dig deeper beyond the emotion, but it's drawing a line in the sand that stifles art.

For me as an artist, that's where I go first--looking at it form a humanist, artist's point of view. I don't see color. I see human beings and I just want everyone to get along. Art is and always will be made to bring about an emotion, ask a question or engage in commentary--regardless of your race, age and gender. That's art. That's what it's supposed to do. It will invoke different opinions from different people from different ages to different cultural backgrounds. That's art. That's what it's supposed to do. So if what Beyonce is truly doing--- making art, then why can only a select few who relate to her physically and racially be able to comment on it? To me that is a disservice to any artistic expression that Bey is proposing here in Lemonade. So my advice to everyone who has chosen sides, gotten mad about the critical response to Lemonade---Who cares what anyone else thinks, just think for yourself! That's art. That's what it's supposed to do.

Hate it or love it, it doesn't matter. Hype is why we consume whether for good or bad reasons. This is a prime example of commercial media thriving off of hype both positive & negative--and people just CONSUMING it. 

This art inspired by John Carpenter's THEY LIVE is a commentary on this commentary on the commentary of Beyonce's Lemonade. It is the newest piece in my #CONSUME pop art series, which is a social commentary on greed, corruption, bigotry, racism, consumerism, materialism and narcissism in the age of the selfie.

[Prints of the tart are available here on Society6]

[Click here to see more of my CONSUME series]