Follow @famousfemaleartist for your daily dose of anti-motivational pop art posters
21 April 2021
Text:
Paula Erizanu
“You have to trust the future will be a bit sexy,” says a poster by @famousfemaleartist Sasha Staicu. Mixing graphic design with illustrations influenced by the aesthetics of comic books, pop art, and Cold War propaganda posters, Staicu has a fresh take on modern life and contemporary trends that is both critical and optimistic, poking fun at the status quo.
With a Russian mother and a Romanian father, Staicu grew up between Moscow and Bucharest, and is now based in Glasgow. “Basically, I was raised on art that meets you where you are — in candy packaging, crafted goods, cartoons, newspaper comics. And that’s what I want to make,” Staicu, a self-defined “great bartender” at a rave bar by night, and an artist by day, told The Calvert Journal. One topic she’s particularly sensitive to is the art world’s snobbery about one’s family background. “We’ve got a nurse, a builder, a sports teacher, and my mom who does everything,” but, she says, “I always saw my family as artists first, and their professions second.” For her, art consumption and art creation are thoroughly interlinked. “The tasks around the house were split between people so as not to fall all on a single person, and then we had loads of time to watch films, discuss what the elders were reading on the subway, or go to cultural events.”
Asked about her Instagram name, Staicu says, “When I graduated from university [in Glasgow], I felt like I had wanted to cut ties with the art world.” She still pursues her artistic practice but veers away from galleries and auctions. “It sparked the superego within me,” she laughs. “The name @famousfemaleartist wasn’t taken on Insta, so I felt like the universe gave me a gift and validated my impulse of defiance.” That’s when the project was born.
So, if you’re looking for bright colours and a healthy dose of sarcasm, @famousfemaleartist has got plenty of both. Our favourites? “In a society that values profit over people, citizens will mistake customer rights for human rights,” and “Before you know it, artists will come to your home and anthropologise it.”
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