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Rihanna Police Photo as...Art?!

L.A.-based artist Sham Ibrahim creates an Andy Warhol-like portrait of the bruised and battered singer

By Marc Malkin Mar 27, 2009 5:30 PMTags
Sham, Rihanna artworldofwonder.net

Rihanna's beatdown by Chris Brown not only caused headlines, now it's inspiring art.

L.A.-based pop artist Sham Ibrahim's new portrait of the "Disturbia" hitmaker is based on the now infamous police photo showing the singer bruised and bloodied.

But Sham's intent is not to raise awareness about, let's say, domestic violence. Instead, his reasons for creating the Andy Warhol-like piece—which is featured in the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's new group show, Name That 'Toon, opening tonight in Hollywood—are quite simple…

"I thought the bruises in the police photo were interesting shapes to draw," he says. "And it was cool to color them pink and blue. Those are two of my favorite colors."

Um, OK.

The 24-inch by 36-inch piece was made by transferring custom colorized blow-ups of digital tracings of the police pic onto canvas.

"There is no message to any of my art," he says. "It's meant to look cool hanging on your wall and that's it! I'm not into deep meanings."

Hey, at least he's honest.