jacuzzi by Deruy

18”h x 24”w acrylic on canvas Deruy  

I want YOUth !

You want it too. Admit it.
This new work by San Francisco artist Joey DeRuy is a play on the classic U.S. Army recruitment campaign featuring the cartoon figure of Uncle Sam, and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It is meant to function simultaneously as fine art, street art, and as an old-timey pamphlet campaign, conjuring notions of politics, war, sex, propaganda, and patriotism, while also satirizing contemporary America's obsession with youth culture and the preservation youth in general. By reproducing the image hundreds of times and plastering it in public spaces around the country, DeRuy wants to remind everyone that the moral of Wilde's century-old tale is still relevant; any bargain you strike with America, or with your plastic surgeon, is bound to make you sorry in the end.