Aesthetic Judgment and a Philosophical Claim: 2Pac. Aesthetic Concepts: Biggie Smalls. Analytic of the Beautiful: Nas’ NY State of Mind. Role of Theory in Aesthetics: Push It by Salt-n-pepa.

Sari Lennick’s bright vibrant collages combine pages from art school aesthetic theory texts with iconic irreverent hip hop and pop song lyrics. The neat rows of text, and the ideas expressed therein, seem determined to contain and define the artists and their songs. But with bright colors and rebellious gestures, the tunes erupt exuberantly from the page.

Hiphop Popart 

One day, I was lying on my couch with the lyrics to Biggie Smalls Big Poppa running over and over in my mind. I fixated on the line “throw yo’ hands in the air, if you’s a true player.“ I went looking for paper to draw hands. I looked up on my bookshelf and saw my “Philosophy of Art” textbook from college. 

As I leafed through the pages of my textbook, I thought of the absurdity of reading 46 essays about what distinguishes something as a work of art, and never actually making art. So I ripped out the pages, wrote down Biggie’s lyrics, drew some hands and made art. 

Andy Warhol said “art is what you can get away with.“ While I’m not an Andy Warhol fan, I do love that Popart gives us the opportunity to juxtapose seemingly incongruous images, creating a whole new idea and image, each piece feeling like a brand new discovery and a secret we now share.

Old-School Hiphop is indeed its own form of art. Old-School Hiphop lyrics over heady, philosophical language is MY kind of art. 

Sari Lennick is a professional actress and artist. Sari began painting in 2006, when she and her husband Alan, moved from a tiny apartment in New York City to a big loft in Minneapolis, MN. In an effort to fill their empty walls, Sari began painting large scale abstract pieces. Since then, Sari has made a lot of art, some good films, and a kid, her very cool and kind son, Dylan. Sari and her family recently relocated from Los Angeles back to Minneapolis, MN. Their walls and lives are full.

See more of Lennick’s work on her acting website, art website and her Instagram account.