The Artist Featured In ‘Picasso Baby’ Says Jay Z Used Her

Back when Jay Z made a splash in the art world with “Picasso Baby,” the masses were split on whether or not the gesture was a genuine appreciation for fine art. Marina Abramovi?, a performance artist and a prominent face in Hov’s artsy flick, and her opinion of the joint venture tilts the argument against him.

In a new interview with the art magazine Spike, she says she feels used after participating in the video for Hov’s Magna Carta Holy Grail cut because he didn’t hold up his side of the agreement. Abramovi? reportedly agreed to let him adapt her work “The Artist Is Present” under the condition that he would help her institute.

“The day before, he came to my office and I gave him an entire power point presentation and said: okay, you can help me, because I really need help to build this thing,” she told Spike during SESC Pompeia in São Paulo. “Then he just completely used me. And that wasn’t fair.”

Ultimately, she regrets having been part of the larger-than-life experience.

“In the end it was only a one-way transaction,” she said. “I will never do it again, that I can say. Never. I was really naive in this kind of world. It was really new to me, and I had no idea that this would happen. It’s so cruel, it’s incredible. I will stay away from it for sure.”

UPDATE: ArtNet News is reporting that Jay Z did, in fact, uphold his side of the deal by contributing financially to Abramovi?’s performance art institute. Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn of Salon 94, who served as the video producer for “Picasso Baby,” claims that there is a receipt proving that Hov made a “substantial donation” (although no dollar amount was disclosed). Rohatyn allegedly read off the receipt, numbered W984804, to ArtNet. No word directly from Jay Z’s Twitter or Life + Times has surfaced at this time.