This Artist Had No Idea Beyonc é and Jay-Z Were Using His Painting of Meghan Markle

From Oprah Magazine

Whether it's using her Coachella performance to celebrate historically Black colleges or creating an ode to women through a visual album, we know by now that everything Beyoncé does publicly has a meaning behind it. So yesterday, when she and Jay-Z accepted their award for Best International Group at the Brit Awards via a pre-recorded video with a portrait of Meghan Markle behind them, the Internet immediately began asking: What does this mean?

In the clip, Beyoncé and Jay-Z recreated a scene from their music video "Apeshit," which was shot at the Louvre museum in Paris and released in conjunction with their joint album Everything Is Love last year. In the original "Apeshit," the couple stare into the camera with Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" behind them. Yesterday's Brit Awards acceptance was a similar set up-except this time, it was a regal painting of Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, peeking out between the married music moguls.

Much of the Internet was busy theorizing over the symbolism. Were they making a statement about the Brits finally having a Black princess? Or were they just celebrating the soon-to-be mom-coincidentally on the same day as her baby shower?

Here at OprahMag.com headquarters, however, we had another, even bigger question: Who created this portrait for the Carters, and where did it come from?

It turns out the artist behind the painting, Tim O'Brien, an illustrator of over 30 years who often depicts figures from pop-culture for everything from US Postage stamps to magazine covers. But he didn't create this work for the Carters per se. In fact, O'Brien was just as shocked as we were that the Carters paid homage to Markle; he had "no idea" they were going to use his painting.

"I started seeing a ton of e-mails from reporters in my inbox, and I was like wait a minute, and then I saw a link and Googled around and I was in shock," says O'Brien, who lives in Brooklyn. "As an artist, whenever anyone uses your work without asking, you're less than pleased, and I always encourage asking artists permission to use their work...but it's Beyoncé! And the response I've gotten in 24 hours has been great. So it's safe to say it was worth it...although I wouldn't have minded a phone call from her or Jay-Z."

On Instagram, O'Brien simply wrote after learning the news: "So this happened today."

The painting itself was completed last year and was commissioned from O'Brien by Aaron Mays and Kay Collins, two graphic designers who were working on the Summer 2018 edition of Kappa Kappa Gamma's alumni magazine. It was fitting, of course, for the publication's cover to feature their notable alumnus, Markle-who became a member in 1999 at Northwestern University-in her new new royal role.

O'Brien says the details on Markle in the portrait are mostly nods to her sorority's symbols, both of which appear on the organization's crest: There's the fleur de lis in her crown, which is the sorority's official flower, and the owl pin on her shoulder, which represents Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.

O'Brien says that the pearls, however, have no deep symbolism, other than "feeling royal" (pearls have been seen as a symbol of wealth amongst royalty for centuries, according to PBS) and adding a nice accent to her neckline that didn't feel "too stuffy." He adds that the painting (which took two weeks-one for a sketch, the second for the painting) was done from memory and reference photos. He chose to have Markle look away from the viewer because he felt it was more standard for royal portraits.

While, of course, O'Brien hasn't spoken to the Carters personally about their choice to replace Mona Lisa with Markle, he has his own theory about the meaning behind the moment.

"It was an ode to their 'Apeshit' video, obviously, but I think that choosing to feature a person of color in the royal family-at the Brit Awards-instead of the Mona Lisa was brilliant...it was the perfect fit," he says.

Having Beyoncé feature his work is a bit of a full circle moment for O'Brien, who painted the singer for Entertainment Weekly's Year End Best of Music list in 2016.

"I’m a fan of both Beyoncé and Jay-Z, but particularly Beyoncé-I love her music and because I spent many hours painting her in the past, I feel an affinity toward her," he says.

O'Brien describes his work as "conceptual realism," adding that he doesn't just do "straight portraits-everything has a contemporary twist or a visual trick or pun." While he does indeed lean toward portraits of well-known icons-like Beyoncé and the Pope, he also frequently works on magazine covers-like today's Time Magazine opener featuring President Trump in the White House with the 2020 Democratic candidates looking over his shoulder:

And there's good news if you want your own regal portrait a la Markle: O'Brien confirms that he still does commissions, and you can learn more about his work and put in requests on his website.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: The painting used in the Bey-Z video for the Brit Awards is not the original. The actual painting? It still lives in his studio.

"I'm waiting for Jay-Z to call me and ask to buy it," O'Brien jokes. "That would be a great early Christmas gift."

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