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I made this print as a pair, to go with Selfie with Political Causes. There’s the ‘woke’ social activist in the earlier print, and the capitalist one-percenter here, embodied by Alan Measles as a super-rich playboy with his girlfriend. His racing car is sponsored by a series of tax havens as he drives past Silicon Valley; the Apple headquarters are there in the background.
The print grew out of a doodle I did in my sketchbook. It was initially drawn in the other direction, with the car driving from right to left, but I transposed the image to my digital screen and flipped it over. I wanted to hang the two works together so that they’re on a collision course with one another. It’s called Sponsored by You because we’re the ones paying for these rich people who don’t pay enough tax.
There are a few nice details that I enjoyed drawing, such as the brakes on the wheels which are ‘Guilt’, and the engine which is ‘Pure Greed’. The fuel cap takes ‘Unregulated market’. ‘Social mobility’ is the roadkill caught under the tyres. The hovering bald eagle in the sky is the ‘Inequality’ of the American dream. On the back of the car it says ‘LUX-embourg’ and ‘UWO’, Unexplained Wealth Order. The phrases ‘Win-win’ and ‘Trickle down’ are there too: the idea that wealth somehow miraculously triclkes down and we all benefit from it, which is complete nonsense.
– Grayson Perry
