For my digital shoplifting project I appropriated a well-known Internet meme. I think memes are more complex cultural products than we give them credit for, and this is one attempt to elevate a meme to the level of “pop art.”

I started with this image, a very common variant of the meme:

In Photoshop I reduced the image to an essential form that remained recognizable but was well-suited to laser cutting / etching:

I then created a path-trace in Illustrator and prepped several variants for cutting and etching:

Finally, I went to the lab and got to work. I tried both glittery acrylic material and pink mirror material. Here’s my final product, which offers interesting effects viewed from both sides: