LADY GAGA ANDY WARHOL AND HER «TELEPHONE» VIDEO

Alternating between Japanese and comic book-style subtitles, the video channels Gaga's beloved pop art pioneers Roy Lichenstein and Andy Warhol. Inspired by the Warhol's exploration of mass consumer culture and advertising through his Campbell's soup studies, Gaga and Akerlund challenge the gender stereotype of the "perfect housewife" portrayed heavily in 1950s pop culture, using Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip as their artistic devices. Bloggers and fans are crying product placement—which in the case of Miracle Whip, it partly is—but its inclusion is more likely an homage to her greatest idol, who himself was a living, breathing piece of art.

Herein lies the convenient Catch-22 Lady Gaga has created for herself. Much like Warhol, she has as much a part in feeding into pop consumer culture as she has in making a statement against it. Whatever product placement or triviality exists within her videos can be excused as art under the pretense of her participation in the pop art movement—whether "Gaga" as a product is really who she is or the product of a label is almost irrelevant when you consider that maybe she's the modern-day Magritte or marcel Duchamp...

-The Atlantic
March 15 2010