This week, since we’re looking at working with transparent paper, I thought I’d shine some light on a contemporary artist that I really love. Joey Vermouth is best known for his “bug art” on TikTok, you might know him by his username sweetjoeyvermouth. Vermouth’s “bug art” is both the piece itself and the performance that goes into creating it. It’s become quite controversial online whether or not “bug art” is “real” art– but I argue that it totally is. You see, the internet often falls for the misconception that it requires a lot of skill and training to be a “real” artist, but Vermouth’s works prove that art can be made with tracing paper and dollar tree coloring books.
As previously stated, Vermouth’s process is half of the art. He works with materials that can be found at stores like Dollar Tree or Walmart, so it’s a very accessible process. He then traces the image of the celebrity, colors it, squirts it with water and adds stickers. He records his entire process and uploads time-lapses of all of his pieces to TikTok, for the audio he sings a little song about how “you don’t have to like my bug art, it’s ok.”
Overall, Joey Vermouth is an impressive artist and definitely someone to look at moving into this next project.
Sources:
drawing into space 