Monica Lewinsky explains what sitting really looks like to artist Marilyn Minter in a candid piece revealing vanity lounge. Lewinsky made headlines around the world in the mid-1990s when she was caught up in a sex scandal with then-President Bill Clinton that led to her impeachment. Minter’s portrait of Lewinsky features in an exhibition at LGDR Gallery in New York (through June 3) that also includes the artist’s depictions of Lady Gaga, writer Roxane Gay and, in a meta twist, the artists Glenn Ligon and Mickalene Thomas.
“When Marilyn said she wanted to paint Me, I was flattered… but also worried. My relationship to my own image is complicated, to say the least,” Lewinsky writes, adding, “Marilyn says she chose us all as subjects because we are ‘a metaphor for the times in which we live. I’m proud to be included in this illustrious group, and I love metaphor vanity. This fits with my belief that during the Clinton scandal I became a social canvas. Anyone could project their problems onto me – and believe me, they did!” At the end of the play, Lewinsky says she tested her limits by giving up her “portrayal virginity” to Minter ( come on Monica).
