Michael James Schneider’s Viral Balloon Messages Have Earned Him Both Followers and Derision. He’s Fine With Either.

The Portland artist's work has become ubiquitous enough on social media to prompt a backlash—he's even inspired a meme generator allowing users to parody him.

Michael James Schneider knows you're making fun of him. He doesn't particularly care.

It's unlikely you've made it this far in 2020 without having some of Schneider's work cross your social media feeds. Scroll through Twitter or Instagram and, at any given moment, you might come across the Portland artist's short-cropped beard and thick-rimmed glasses, standing against a brightly colored wall, next to a message spelled out using inflated balloons. It could be an inspirational quote, a reminder not to text an ex in the middle of a pandemic, or a statement accusing Donald Trump of simultaneously being racist and a rapist.

Related: Michael James Schneider Has Gone Viral for Making Memes Making Fun of Memes.

He gets a lot of earnest shares and retweets, sure. But lately, Schneider has become ubiquitous enough to inspire a backlash. Detractors have called his work faux-woke and performative, cringy or flat-out sad. "I'm not saying that the letter balloon guy is the nation's worst person, I'm simply stating that he's in the conversation," read one Tweet. He's even inspired a meme generator allowing users to create parody versions.

Schneider is aware of the criticisms. But he's just kept on creating—mainly because he's not doing this for anyone other than himself.

"I'm a little selfish in my art in that I make it for myself. I make art to make the lambs stop screaming," he says. "There's something really calming, centering and grounding about making my art that has helped me get through what has been a really, really shitty year for most people."

But that's not to say Schneider—who previously went viral for a project in which he "married" a boyfriend he built out of used wine boxes—doesn't want to find an audience. After all, everyone is going through this shitty year at the same time. It's why he's spent 2020 using his platform to push political messages and raise awareness for social causes.

And while his main objective is to quell his own anxieties and insecurities, it never hurts to hear from people who relate to those same feelings.

"It makes me feel great when so many other people—total strangers all over—can relate to what my headspace looks like at a given moment and can resonate with the words just as strongly as I do," he says. "That online popularity is validating, but I know it's place. I'm not creating for an audience to get as many online dopamine hits as possible."

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