Multitasking Artist Is Making the Rest of Us Look Bad
Dutch illustrator Rajacenna van Dam has gained popularity by drawing up to ten images simultaneously, using both hands and both feet, while many people can’t even talk and drive at the same time.
By Gabe Herman · May 15, 2024
Disclaimer: While this article is based on flawless artistic facts, it also contains the messy scribbles of satire.
How many extremities can you make good art with? For most people the answer is zero, and for a small percentage the answer is one, but Dutch artist Rajacenna van Dam can draw impressively with not only both hands but both feet as well, and all at the same time. Don’t I feel like an untalented waste of space.
“Simultaneous drawing is both an impressive skill and ultimately irrelevant to how good each work of art is,” said art expert Francois LePain, who has probably been to a lot of museums. “And this wonderful combination of impressiveness and irrelevancy is key to gaining popularity on social media.”
And Rajacenna, as she goes by professionally, does indeed have a big social media presence, with millions of views and likes of her quadridextrous exploits, and lots of impressed celebrities gushing over her work in real-time, just like Van Gogh and Vermeer before her.
“Andy Warhol was perhaps the forerunner of the social media artist and celebrity,” noted social critic Francis Warhol, who may or may not be related to the famous Pop Artist, I didn’t bother to ask. “So there is precedent for artists engaging with popular culture and embracing technology. At today’s pace, Warhol’s famous quote might have been that in the future, everyone will be famous for about 15 seconds, if that.”
“I bought a piece by Rajacenna,” said art collector Bally Gobal, “because, while I don’t understand art, I understand likes on social media, and it feels good to look at the illustration and know that other people admire this artist.” Gobal continued, “Also, I’m an empty human being who projects confidence and success on the outside, but at my inner core, I am desperate and helpless and trying to scream out for love and acceptance. But anyway, yeah, it’s a pretty cool drawing.”
Rajacenna’s work has been praised by celebrities like Justin Bieber, Mr. Beast, and Mario Lopez, though unfortunately not by any artists with deep talent… oh wait, never mind, it turns out that the brilliant actress Viola Davis has said of her, according to Rajacenna’s website, “OMG!!! You are so extraordinary talented.” And her works can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars apiece. So, who’s laughing now?
A neurologist did a brain scan of Rajacenna, who is 31 years old, and found that the two sides of her brain are three times better connected than the average person’s. You might say that she’s the Einstein of our time in terms of having such remarkable brain capability: both of them using their gifts to alter how we view what’s possible in the world, and both of them being friends with Justin Bieber.
Rajacenna continues a rich, centuries-old tradition of great Dutch artists. We all are familiar with the inspirational quote, sometimes attributed to Rembrandt, sometimes to Hieronymus Bosch: “Don’t forget to leave a comment and smash that Subscription button, y’all.”