Katy Perry To Be Featured At The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery

Christina Lee | May 22, 2014 10:05 am

A Katy Perry portrait will be added June 18 to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The oil-on-linen painting, titled “Cupcake Katy,” was completed in 2010 by Will Cotton, the same New York artist behind the “Birthday” star’s Teenage Dream cover art (above).

“Cupcake Katy” depicts Perry in a dress designed by Cotton and constructed by Cynthia Rowley, as 18th-century royalty-meets-cupcake liner. The point, as explained by Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet, is to ask viewers to reconsider what it means to be a strong woman. “Sweet but no mere piece of ‘candy,’ the woman is accessorized but not labeled: she’s the one in control,” Sajet said in a statement.

Perry’s portrait will join those of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Beyonce. Read the full statement (the best you will read today, promise) over at the Smithsonian’s website. Then, see Cotton’s other portraits of women among cotton candy clouds, sundae slopes and chocolate pools — yes, this is real life — at his official website.

[via AP]

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