Rationale

Artwork Title: Tell me I’m pretty, tell me I’m good.

In the work, “Tell me I’m pretty, tell me I’m good,” Jasmine delivers a sharp, tongue-in-cheek critique of the current trend toward purely decorative public art. By pairing classic, aesthetically “palatable” floral imagery with a literal shower of gold star stickers, the work functions as a self-aware satire. It parodies the internal drive for validation and the external demand for art that remains safe, agreeable, and unchallenging.

The irony here is multi-layered. 

While the piece lampoons the desire to be “awarded” for unoriginality, it simultaneously celebrates the artist’s own unabashed love for painting shiny things and the quiet joy found in nature. Executed at a massive 5 x 15-meter scale under a tight one-week deadline, the work also serves as a testament to the artist’s own creative rigor. Confronting a challenging, less-than-ideal wall, the artist’s ferocity in production elevates the piece beyond its ironic premise. It is a playful yet defiant inquiry into the value we place on beauty, proving that when an artist grants themselves their own gold star, the result is anything but challenging.

About Jasmine

Jasmine Crisp (she/her) is a painter and muralist from Adelaide, South Australia. Working with traditional techniques, she creates highly detailed murals using only brush, roller and hand-mixed colours. Her practice draws on lived experience, depicting local figures, spaces and personal belongings through original imagery and references. 

Blending reality with fantasy, she produces playful genre paintings of the imagined familiar.
Since beginning her public art practice in 2020, Crisp has delivered large-scale murals internationally, including Street Art Boulogne Sur Mer (France); Without Frontiers Lunetta (Italy); Muralia (Vienna) and LOOKUP Festival (Portsmouth, UK), alongside major commissions and festivals across Australia.