Bombombini Gusini

About the Work

Bombombini Gusini is an ai-generated absurdist meme that became viral around April 2025. It sits at the center of an emerging genre of internet ‘brainrot’: surreal, nonsensical images and videos that follow the progression of internet humor. In rendering this image by hand, I wanted to explore what it means to manually render ‘artwork’ created by artificial intelligence and in turn examine the evolution of meme culture as a legitimate form of artistic expression. Memes are not thought of as art; memes exist on social media where anyone can make or share one. Unlike the importance of being archivable associated with most traditional art, they often become obsolete or ‘dead memes’ in a couple of weeks. Memes are not traditionally displayed in art galleries, but Margaret Kammerer (clay.obj on instagram) gained traction by expertly rendering memes in her ceramic art. However, this piece (Bombombini Gusini) might be considered rejected art because of what makes memes so culturally relevant: the ease of replication, direct engagement in the digital space, and humor. Just as the Dadaists of the early 20th century responded to the horrors of World War I with radical absurdity and rejection of traditional aesthetics, today’s meme account admins turn to nonsense and irony as a form of digital connection in the face of uncertainty. Dada was born from the realization that reason and logic had failed society, leading to the devastating results of mechanized warfare. Our contemporary world is plagued by economic precarity, war, environmental collapse, and increasing loss of community. Against this backdrop, the meme emerges not just as escapist humor, but as an existential response to a collapsing sense of meaning. In this sense, memes are the new Fountain. Duchamp’s readymade urinal parallels the absurdist meme’s refusal to play by the art world’s rules of logic, taste, or skill.

About the Artist

I am a BA student in Studio art, with a primary focus on figurative work. I mainly depict figures within the context of magical realism, a Latin American literary movement that places fantastical elements as part of everyday life. I also use art as a form of social commentary, especially through absurdism and abstraction.