Artwork Description
Selfie Gun Yellow Silkscreen Print by Joan Cornellà Hand-Pulled on Fine Art Paper Limited Edition Screenprint Artwork.
2024 Signed & Numbered Limited Edition of 250 Artwork Size 16.14x22.44 Silkscreen Print
Selfie Gun Yellow Silkscreen Print by Joan Cornellà
Selfie Gun Yellow is a 2024 hand-pulled silkscreen print by Spanish artist Joan Cornellà. Signed and numbered in a limited edition of 250, this work measures 16.14 by 22.44 inches and presents Cornellà’s now-iconic visual punch with a deceptively cheerful palette masking deeply provocative themes. The image features a smiling male figure in a blue suit standing against a vibrant yellow background, holding a selfie stick that supports a handgun rather than a smartphone. The print's stark simplicity, exaggerated expression, and flat fields of color allow its absurdity and subversion to dominate the viewer's first and lasting impression.
Joan Cornellà’s Visual Irony and the Absurdity of the Digital Age
Joan Cornellà was born in 1981 in Barcelona and has risen to international prominence for his uniquely unsettling yet humorous critiques of contemporary life. Through a visual language that borrows heavily from mid-century commercial illustration and pop iconography, Cornellà’s work deconstructs digital narcissism, commodified identity, and passive complicity. Selfie Gun Yellow crystallizes many of these themes. The joyful pose of the figure, exaggeratedly cheerful and unaware, becomes a metaphor for societal blindness in the pursuit of validation and spectacle. The gun at the end of the selfie stick transforms a common habit into a commentary on psychological self-destruction and performative existence.
Silkscreen Precision and the Language of Commercial Aesthetics
The technique used in Selfie Gun Yellow amplifies its message. The precision of hand-pulled silkscreen printing allows for crisp, clean lines and saturated colors, giving the work the look of mass-produced consumer graphics while being part of an exclusive limited run. The yellow background is not merely a color field but a psychological trigger—evoking optimism and energy while laying the groundwork for cognitive dissonance. The contrast between the man’s welcoming demeanor and the weapon he points toward himself deepens the satire without relying on excessive visual clutter. This minimalism, paired with shocking irony, is central to Cornellà’s success as a provocateur in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork.
The Role of Satirical Minimalism in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork
Cornellà’s contribution to the evolution of Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork is defined by his capacity to use restraint to elicit powerful reactions. His figures are deliberately anonymous, their individuality stripped away to amplify the social roles they play. In Selfie Gun Yellow, the business suit, the performative smile, and the stylized violence condense global anxieties into one frozen frame. With no dialogue, no background narrative, and no ambiguity, the piece is direct but not reductive. It forces a confrontation with the viewer's own habits, obsessions, and the mechanics of attention in the modern world. Through works like this, Joan Cornellà continues to provoke, entertain, and challenge through satire masked in simplicity.
