'Rona Bots: Gold Edition,' by XVALA, Silkscreen, Oil Stick and Iridescent Painting
'Rona Bots: Gold Edition,' by XVALA, Silkscreen, Oil Stick, Iridescent Painting

This large scale 66" x 94" mixed media painting by XVALA is from his "Pandemic Collection: Series #9." The background is painted an iridescent gold with three alien "Rona Bots" wearing aqua masks floating across the surface with COVID-19 marked at the top of the painting.

"As if COVID-19 were not enough, 2020 also brought the explosion of the Karens, a modern day militia motivated by mundane things. They wanted to speak to your manager, they would have your job, and they were definitely not satisfied with your service. The number of Karens emerging from the wild reached its high point when the pandemic created a need for masks, distancing, contact tracing, and other interruptions of their entitlement." -- XVALA

XVALA's art illuminates the hidden fallout spawned from our high tech Internet age. His Fear Google campaign exposed the decay of privacy and No Delete used hacked nude celebrity photos to highlight loss of control over personal information. The artist has worked with trash from the homes of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and others, as well as dirt from the graves of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. The dirt appears in the New World Order collection as part of a pyramidal, 3D printed, living ant farm, a symbol of the surveillance and conformity the digital state forces on users.

XVALA exposes a blurring between public and private information while supporting privacy, freedom of speech, and content ownership. His Meme Ranch project addresses a theft of both freedom of information and freedom of expression by governments and tech giants.

XVALA is often compared to Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Richard Prince. His street art offers satirical commentary on other artists, including Banksy.