Sorry, Leonardo Da Vinci - we're swiping left on the Mona Lisa. Bad news, Vincent Van Gogh - we think your Starry Night is a Starry Nightmare. And hate to break to you, Salvador Dali, but The Persistence Of Memory is something we've already forgotten about. The only painter who matters in 2018 is Jim Carrey, the star of Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
In his 50's, Jim Carrey has transitioned from comedic actor to prolific artist, passionately pumping out paintings from his home studio. Fans have been surprised by the quality of his artwork, which displays a distinctive colorful style. Recently, he's shifted to satirical paintings, taking aim at public figures: President Donald Trump having sex with porn star Stormy Daniels; a hellbound rendering of "self-unmade man" Jared Kushner; a vengeful elephant goring his poachers who bear a striking resemblance to famous elephant hunters Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. The paintings are brutal, but some show Carrey has still his sense of humor.
Now The Truman Show star has taken aim at beleaguered Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The social media platform has been rocked with scandal, facing accusations of proliferating 'fake news,' allowing election interference from Russian trolls, censoring conservative media and violating users' privacy through data harvesting. It was revealed that Cambridge Analytica - a political consulting firm hired by Donald Trump for his 2016 election campaign - stole personal data from 87 million Facebook users without their consent. Then they used this information to try to influence voters' decisions.
For the past two days, Mark Zuckerberg has testified before Congress, apologizing for Facebook's mistakes and attempting to win back users' trust. In response, people posted hilarious memes on social media, mocking Zuckerberg for his awkward, robotic public persona. At times, it seemed like he was a alien trying to prove he was human, and failing. Carrey ran with this idea, portraying Zuckerberg as the Looney Tunes character Marvin The Martian. (For you kids out there, he was an alien who dressed like the Roman God Mars, and wanted to destroy the Earth.)
"Congress gets a visit from planet Zuckerberg," wrote Carrey, captioning the painting with some Marvin-esque dialogue: "I shall prevent any further election meddling by destroying the Earth with my Illudium Q-35 Explosive Space Modulator App! The sudden drop in Facebook's stock has made me angry! VERY ANGRY INDEED!!!"
This is the second time Carrey has depicted the Facebook CEO in a painting. For the first one, he painted Zuckerberg smiling next to a giant thumbs down, and the word 'Fakebook.' In the caption, Carrey declared he was dumping his Russian stock and deleting his Facebook page, because he believed the company profited from Russian interference.
The privacy violations are a serious issue and it remains to be seen if the social media platform will recover. Hopefully Twitter doesn't violate any users' privacy - otherwise we'll be left without a medium to see Carrey's brutal paintings!