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@cultured_mag For our latest limited-edition artist cover, Sam McKinniss (@wkndpartyupdate) painted a portrait of Cult of Personality issue cover star @troyesivan. Like many of us, McKinniss first encountered Sivan on Instagram. The Australian wunderkind, then 20, had just released his first studio album; Chloe Wise, a friend and fellow painter, posted from a Sivan concert, catching McKinniss’s attention. In 2018, the artist spotted Sivan again in Joel Edgerton’s conversion-therapy drama, ‘Boy Erased.’ “That was a difficult yet moving and necessary story to tell,” McKinniss recalls, “and I was impressed that someone in pop music would want to be part of it.” The painter is an architect of celebrity in his own right, having created Lorde’s most memorable album cover and filled galleries and museums across the U.S. and Europe with his brand of pop-cultural pastiche. For the issue, McKinniss also interviewed Sivan, catching him as he was putting the final touches on his latest LP, ‘She’s The Best.’ Link in bio to read the cover profile now. 1/ Sam McKinniss, ‘Troye Sivan (for CULTURED),’ 2026. Artwork commissioned by CULTURED, coordinated by David Kordansky Gallery, and courtesy of the artist. // In the Cult of Personality issue, we examine the actors, musicians, filmmakers, and artists who have captured the culture’s most precious resource—our attention—without forsaking their own singularity. //
