Publicity teams, don’t try this at home. I’ve seen a lot in my life as a PR professional, but I’ve never seen this.
In my 10 years as as a career publicist, I have run into my fair share of imposters, but this one by far, was the deepest fake I have ever witnessed to date. It actually took me a while to pull it all together in one coherent essay so that you can comprehend the range of shenanigans and lengths artists will take, in order to curate relevancy. And if you don’t believe me, check out this video we put together on how the entire evening went down.
It all started with a press release from one “Harry” — curator apparent at the Gablowsian Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Harry was excited that Justin Bieber was going to be showcasing a lineup of his works at the opening reception: “Justin Bieber: Paintings from Space”.
Said the invite: “the works evoke intimacy, childhood dreams and family all with subtle layers of eroticism, joy and the gestation of sexual identity. Made with acrylics, spray paint and markers, the works embody a natural sense of freedom and abandonment. Even though they are steam of conscious works, they hold tight to a formal training and art historical framework. While many will try to pinpoint a source/origin artist to reference, these works are truly individual and are distinctively profound. This is not to be missed.”
It continues: “All guests will be vetted and confirmation of RSVP will be required at the door as well as your CDC vaccination pass. Space and viewings are extremely limited.”
My first hint should have been the typo on steam, meant to have been stream, but when you are a publicist managing a team of executives and clients and you receive a direct invite to attend a gallery opening with the opportunity to interview a pop star, you move heaven and earth to make the date work. Plus Justin is Canadian like me, so I figured we had a lot to catch up about, including what it’s like to be a cultural icon from Canada 🇨🇦 living in the United States 🇺🇸. So I postponed my flight leaving New York that day to another day. And while many publicity teams vetted the email suspecting a possible ruse, scouring for any hint of veracity through due diligence, hundreds of pop fans RSVP’d for the new gallery’s opening reception: “Justin Bieber: Paintings From Space.” where the artist was promised to be present.
Slightly plausible, I thought as I stepped out of my black car and pulled up to the venue where my camera guy Shawn Punch was waiting inside. I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for a number of years and learned all the essentials of painting in acrylics as a pre-teen, but the flagship work by Bieber appeared to me very pubescent, amateur and careless. The piece “Cool Cat” was later made to comment on how blatantly modern abstract art commercializes the process of detail found in early Renaissance paintings in exchange for outrageous sums of money. Cool Cat below by “Justin Bieber” is actually the work of Brian Whiteley’s kindergarten-age son.
Harry Gablowsian, of course, is a play on the world’s preeminent mega-dealer Larry Gagosian—the exhibition made headlines in the New York Post’s Page Six, which outed the project as a hoax, and even prompted a cease-and-desist letter from Bieber’s lawyers.
Now, Artnet News can exclusively reveal that the “Justin Bieber” paintings are actually the work of Brooklyn artist Brian Whiteley, founder of the Satellite Art Show, whose last few months have been spent in character as Bieber.
“As an artist who’s been trying to break through and make it, I thought it would be interesting to see the power of celebrity and the lure of the mega gallery,” Whiteley told Artnet News. “I’ve been told I kind of look like Justin, so it made sense to choose him.”
To more fully embody the “Baby” singer, Whiteley underwent a complete makeover, with blond hair, (temporary) tattoos, and a new, baggier wardrobe. He’s also been listening to Bieber in the studio, trying to channel the musician’s creative energy—a kind of method acting meets conceptual performance art, if you will.
When Justin’s publicist came over to greet me over a cheap and dwindling supply of white wine and a thin red carpet, it was apparent that I was visibly annoyed after I read the ‘big’ reveal. I had brought a gift bag of CBD products from my clients at Blue Forest Farms for Justin’s anxiety around screaming fans. She seemed impressed that we had arranged for a camera to capture everything and jumped on the phone immediately to get Justin to make his appearance. “Zebra management is here” she yelled into the phone, waving her free hand. On the other side of the line, a nervous Brian was busy shoring up the confidence to face the small but impressive press corps that had formed at the venue.
To be relevant, is the highest currency in which a public personality is paid, but if you want to excel in marketing, branding and public relations you may want to pay attention to what not to do if you are going to launch a PR campaign.
- Don’t impersonate a celebrity unless you have piles of cash to deal with a lawsuit. After chatting with Harry, I realized we had actually met several years back in NYC around a time when he was deep inside the art world and working hard on a way to grab attention as an artist in an oversaturated and bloated market.
- Don’t hire a publicist who can’t manage a flap. Whitley says his idea came from the huge price tags on work by celebrities or notable people — including Hunter Biden, whose paintings made headlines when they were marked at a whopping and nonsensical $500,000. His publicist was in on everything.
- Don’t waver. Commit to being authentic, no matter how controversial. Your brand is an amalgamation of how you wish to be perceived and how you are perceived — Brian Whitley is, has always been a prankster, an impersonator, satirist and hoax artist whose more recent works include:
- Justin Bieber is Suing Me (literally)
- Trump Tombstone (placed on a secret service watchlist for potential assassination threat)
- Hanging a Clown Painting at MoMA
- Vladimir Putin Painting at Trump DC Hotel
- Starting a Creepy Clown Pandemic (sorry)
- Bigfoot Hoaxes (was almost shot by a hunter as bigfoot)
Now, Artnet News can exclusively reveal that the “Justin Bieber” paintings are actually the work of Brooklyn artist Brian Whiteley, founder of the Satellite Art Show, whose last few months have been spent in character as Bieber.
“As an artist who’s been trying to break through and make it, I thought it would be interesting to see the power of celebrity and the lure of the mega gallery,” Whiteley told Artnet News. “I’ve been told I kind of look like Justin, so it made sense to choose him.”
To more fully embody the “Baby” singer, Whiteley underwent a complete makeover, with blond hair, (temporary) tattoos, and a new, baggier wardrobe. He’s also been listening to Bieber in the studio, trying to channel the musician’s creative energy—a kind of method acting meets conceptual performance art, if you will. I’ll let you know what happens when I submit the damages for my airplane ticket change fee.
Watch: Justin Bieber is Suing Me