This Marina Abramović Meme Is Hilarious

Another day, another art meme. Just last week we were collectively chuckling at parodies of Jeff Koons naked in Vanity Fair, and before that, we cocked our legs like guns, just because Ai Weiwei told us to. But this time, our short online attention spans have been drawn to another overexposed contemporary artist. Marina Abramović‘s exhausted facial expressions, largely sourced from images of her durational performance art stunts The Artist Is Present and 512 Hours, are now being used to hawk over-the-counter medications like Theraflu, Icy Hot, and an Aspirin knockoff aptly named “Aspirina.” Well, fine, these aren’t actual ads, but they’re realistic enough that they could be!

Photo: Facebook/vladimir.maislin.

According to Complex, the man behind the meme is Vladimir Maislin, for whom a Google search turns up only references to the Abramović ads. Maislin uploaded the images to his Facebook page, and from there they quickly went viral (depending on how much time you waste on social media, you may already be aware of them). A visit to Maislin’s Facebook profile also reveals a doctored image of the Backstreet Boys in which each member of the 1990s boy band is holding bunny rabbits, with no further explanation given. Whoever this mystery maker of memes is, he clearly has a knack for Photoshop and an eye for hilarity.

Photo: Facebook/vladimir.maislin.