Along with finishing her fourth studio album, M.I.A. is currently busy at work on a much more surprising project: custom designing a series of limited-edition labels for Beck’s beer. “Before, artists would struggle with the art and commerce thing, but now I think you have to have a certain conviction about your work and the canvas is irrelevant, you can put it on anything these days,” she explains in an interview with Spin . “You know there are certain things I won’t agree to, sitting down and having a drink, and having a little chat is a good thing, and that’s what people tend to do, you know.”
Based on a series of digital paintings that M.I.A. had already been working on while in India, the colorful labels feature a yin-yang symbol at their center. “The circle represents — it’s a cell, it’s a frequency that anyone can tap into,” she says in this promotional clip. “It’s not defined by money or by boundaries and identity, defined by geography. It gives everybody the same amount of power to have the power of thought. To me as an artist, all I know, is that the opportunity to create art and put it out there in the world — whether it’s on a Beck’s bottle or you’re hanging up in a gallery — there’s a responsibility that goes with it. Everyone has the power to think in the best way possible. Hopefully it inspires people to be the best way possible.” [via Pitchfork]