Success Kid
Oil on canvas · 40 × 40 cm · 2024
This one joins my Memes series — internet memes reimagined in oil.
Success Kid started life as a 2007 snapshot of a toddler on a beach, fist clenched, looking improbably pleased with himself — it went on to caption a decade of online “mission accomplished” moments.
People react to this painting in two very different ways: some see a cute, determined little kid; others feel a bit uneasy, reading the clenched fist as a stand-in for toxic masculinity. I’m firmly in the second camp. Painting is usually meditative for me — I rarely feel much of anything while I work. This one was the exception: I had a genuine, negative reaction to the image, and it stuck with me the whole time I was painting it.