Artwork title : Louis XVI sucks

Title: Louis XVI Sucks
Medium: Mixed Media – Acrylic & Textile Art
Year: 2024

Artist Statement

“Louis XVI Sucks” is a satirical mixed-media work that merges painting and textile interventions to question the persistence of power structures and the narratives we inherit about them. By deliberately combining vibrant acrylic layers with raw, hand-stitched text elements, the piece contrasts historical grandeur with contemporary irreverence.

The central figure—loosely referencing the iconography of Louis XVI—appears distorted, eroded, and almost dissolving into the background. This visual fragmentation symbolizes the collapse of absolute authority and the fragility of glorified historical images. The embroidered phrases, especially the provocative title, function as both rebellion and commentary: a reminder that history is not static, and that critique remains a crucial tool for understanding the present.

The work plays with humour, critique, and material experimentation. The threadwork introduces a tactile, almost vulnerable dimension, disrupting the traditional surface of the painting and challenging the viewer to reconsider whose stories are preserved, whose are romanticized, and whose are questioned.

Ultimately, “Louis XVI Sucks” is less about a specific king than about the ongoing human tendency to elevate