Grimes selling ‘piece of her soul’ in online art exhibition

Singer is auctioning off legal document that gives purchaser percentage of her soul

(AFP via Getty Images)

Grimes is selling a piece of her soul as part of a new online art exhibition.

The singer's forthcoming show, Selling Out, will debut on 28 May on Gallery Platform Los Angeles and Maccarone Los Angeles and will comprise multiple prints, drawings and photographs.

The title piece, however, is a legal document that entitles the purchaser to a percentage of Grimes’s soul. Yes, really.

Speaking to Bloomberg about the exhibition, which will see each of the artworks available for purchase via an auction, Grimes explained that she originally did not plan to sell the document.

“I didn’t want anyone to buy it, so I said we should just make it $10 million and then it probably won’t sell,” she said of the starting price.

However, after seeking the help of a lawyer to draft a contract for the item, Grimes said she became more fascinated with the idea of selling her soul.

“The deeper we got with it, the more philosophically interesting it became,” she said.

“Also, I really wanted to collaborate with my lawyer on art. The idea of fantastical art in the form of legal documents just seems very intriguing to me.”

The 32-year-old added that she sees herself primarily as a visual artist, despite being best known for her music, and feels inspired by video games.

“I feel annoyed when people approach digital art or video games with disdain,” she said.

“Some of the most arresting, emotional, jarring artistic experiences I’ve had in the last few years have been in video games.”

News of the exhibition comes after Grimes gave birth to her first child with her boyfriend, the Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk.

The couple made headlines for their unusual choice of name: X Æ A-12. The choice baffled the internet as many questioned what the unusual moniker meant and sounded like.

Writing on Twitter, Grimes explained that the name includes references to the couple’s favourite aircraft and the elven spelling of AI.

But Musk and Grimes have been forced to change the name to “X Æ A-Xii” in order to comply with California law, which forbids people from using numbers in their children's names.