DNA art company launches lip paintings
The company that makes art from DNA has turned a bit more Andy Warhol for an encore.
DNA 11, an online company that creates personalized oil paintings from the buyer's DNA or fingerprint, introduced a new way for people to buy art--by puckering up. In partnership with cosmetics company MAC, DNA 11 now lets people buy a personalized painting by sending in a print of their lips, or what are called Kiss Portraits. (It's very Marilyn Monroe.)
DNA 11 has been selling on-demand paintings of people's genetic code for years. Its art work has even appeared on the crime show CSI as a fictional way to trace a killer, but technically that's not possible. To create a work, DNA 11 collects a sample of the buyer's DNA, which is immediately sent to a special lab. (The lab doesn't keep records of people's names.) And then only a partial picture of the code is used to create an individual's painting--which typically looks like computer code on canvas.
Similarly with its new product, DNA 11 will send the customer a collection kit so it can create a high-resolution image of the lip print. (Buyers will presumably use MAC lipstick to blot a print.) The buyer can customize the color and size of paintings, which start at $290 and go up in price depending on size or framing. DNA 11 sells its art in museum stores such as New York's Museum of Modern Art and also online. With the Kiss Portraits, it's hoping to appeal to more women shoppers.
"Our products are for people who feel they have everything, want something truly original, or are decorating a living space," said DNA 11 co-founder Adrian Salamunovic.
