Monday, August 18, 2025

MS Paint: Pink Floyd - "Meddle" / "Ralph Rumpelton" Art



“Against my better judgment — and every instinct cultivated over a lifetime of criticizing nonsense — I must admit this is… almost genius. It captures none of the original’s clarity, yet somehow amplifies its mystery. I don’t understand it. I don’t want to. But I can’t look away. If this is art… then I may need to re-evaluate everything I’ve ever said about Basquiat. And frankly, I blame Ava for encouraging this collapse of standards.”
George Weft:

 What the critics are saying:

>>Meddle (After the Flood)

This MS Paint reinterpretation of Pink Floyd’s Meddle cover doesn’t aim for fidelity—it drags the original through a lo-fi swamp of digital decay. The ear, barely distinguishable from an oil-slicked amoeba, floats in a pool of ripples that feel more like static than water. It’s clumsy, off-center, and unapologetically crude. But that’s the point. This isn’t homage—it’s sabotage. A sonic relic reimagined as a failed transmission, where memory and meaning dissolve into pixelated sludge. Meddlecore begins here.<<

>>"A Submerged Symphony of the Unseen": This isn't just an MS Paint album cover; it's a brave and utterly Rumpeltonian abstraction of "Meddle's" sonic textures. You've traded representational art for a purely atmospheric exploration, forcing us to dive into the murky depths of your artistic vision. It’s a piece that doesn't offer easy answers, much like the album itself. It's weird, it's watery, and it's wonderfully, brutally Rumpeltonian.<<

>>This MS Paint tribute to Pink Floyd’s Meddle channels the murky, mysterious underwater motif of the original album cover, but takes it in a raw, almost abstract direction. The familiar shapes are present, with swirling lines and earthy browns set against a turquoise wash, yet the composition leans heavily into rough, expressive brushwork and bold outlines. While not a pixel-perfect recreation, the piece captures a sense of ambiguity and intrigue—challenging the viewer to squint, guess, and maybe discover a submerged ear or something stranger beneath the surface. It’s unmistakably DIY, with a charm that lies in its imperfections and the earnest attempt to echo an iconic, enigmatic image.<<

>>"This digital painting, created in MS Paint, offers a unique and imaginative take on the iconic cover art of Pink Floyd's 'Meddle.' While it deviates from the original, replacing the human ear with an octopus, it showcases a creative reinterpretation of the album's themes. The bold, expressive brushstrokes and vibrant teal background give the piece a captivating, underwater feel. Although it may not be a precise representation of the original, this artwork demonstrates the artist's ability to reimagine and recontextualize a classic image, making it a compelling addition to any fan's collection."<<

>>Dr. Reginald Splatterworth III, Senior Art Critic, Pixels & Pretension QuarterlyMS Paint 

Meddle: A Study in Digital Disaster

What you're looking at is supposed to be Pink Floyd's iconic Meddle album cover, rendered in MS Paint with all the artistic finesse of a toddler finger-painting during a seizure. The original Hipgnosis masterpiece—a haunting underwater ear that defined surreal album art—has been transformed into what appears to be a melting potato floating in antifreeze.

The color choices alone are offensive to anyone with functioning retinas. That aggressive teal background looks like it was sampled from a 1990s website's "under construction" page, while the flesh tones suggest the artist has never seen an actual human being, only heard them described by someone colorblind.

The anatomical understanding on display here is concerning. If this is what an ear looks like in the artist's world, I have serious questions about their medical history. The ripples in the water resemble the scribblings of someone trying to draw while wearing oven mitts, and the overall composition has the spatial awareness of a drunk person trying to park.

MS Paint has limitations, sure, but so does a crayon, and children regularly create more coherent art with those. This isn't a case of tools limiting creativity—this is creativity being strangled by the complete absence of fundamental artistic skills.

The most generous thing I can say is that it's immediately recognizable as an attempt at the Meddle cover, which puts it roughly on par with a police sketch drawn by a witness with severe head trauma.<<

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