What exactly is fame, and who deserves it?

Aubrey Merolanne asked herself that question months ago, and she’s adamant that recent events regarding a certain Durango High School senior had nothing to do with Meroloanne’s solo show “Idle Idols.”

“It’s a light-hearted commentary on where we are as a society and how it matches up with who and what we used to revere,” Merolanne said.

The Minnesota native joined Studio & last summer, and “Idols” will be her first solo show. Merolanne’s work is refreshingly fun and her real talent is drawing; before she created the tongue-in-cheek celebrity portraits that make up “Idols,” Merolanne made a name for herself with a series of pen-and-ink drawings of “Alice in Wonderland” scenes with a zombie twist. The “Alice” drawings were part of a group show at & last year.

Each piece in “Idols” is a seemingly mismatched pairing of an American celebrity set against an iconic and even sacred backdrop. Merolanne uses gold, silver and black paint pens to create images from Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Middle Eastern influences.

In one, for example, Pamela Anderson cradles Courtney Stodden, the teenage bride of 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson, in a classic Catholic Madonna and Child pose.

“Celebrity has changed,” Merolanne said. “It indulges people’s voyeuristic tendencies with more focus on entertainment than something or someone who was actually worshipped. This is our new god (lowercase emphasized).”

Other stars of “Idle Idols” include the Kardashian sisters, Lindsay Lohan, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and yes – even local-celeb-gone-global Sydney Spies. That was a late entry and Merolanne portrayed the ubiquitous DHS student as the Statue of Liberty as a “tribute” to her fight for justice.

“Of all the talent in this town and what we have to offer, it astounds me that this is what draws national attention,” Merolanne said.

The name of the show says it all; “idle” has definitions ranging from “not working or doing nothing” to “of no real worth, importance or significance.” And although she’s only been a “professional” artist for about two years, there’s a quality to her work – quirky and generally humorous as it is – that hints at commercial appeal. Whether or not it will allow Merolanne to quit her day job anytime soon, she’s pleased with how things are going so far.

“I just can’t believe this is my life,” she said. “I hope (the exhibit is) well-received, but either way, I’m just humbled I get my own show.

“I can’t even believe it, really. It’s supposed to be fun, and I don’t want people to be angry. I don’t know if this is nice or not, but it’s something different.”

ted@durangoherald.com