As we reported, Lady Gaga shot a video last week in L.A. with Inez & Vinoodh, while they were in town for their exhibition at Gagosian Gallery. A still from that video, this is the cover art for Applause, Gaga’s first single from her much-ballyhooed new album, ARTPOP, a return to the spotlight after a worse-than-thought hip injury.

With her white Gareth Pugh smock and smeared rainbow make-up, she looks a little like a mime, or a sad clown. But, as she told WWD, she’s in a kind of fever state, craving her fans’ attention. “When I look at it I see that there is a longing for the applause. I see that there is a void that is leaking onstage, that the performer is leaking, that the art is sort of becoming something else in front of your eyes. Something more human, something more honest.” Sounds like she’s got artspeak down pat — not surprising for someone so studiously well-versed in Warhol.

The single is slated to drop August 19, a week before an appearance at the VMAs at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Just prior to the album launch on November 11, an exhibition called artRave will launch. Gaga has said the rather protean project will incorporate art-world contributions from Marina Abramović, Jeff Koons, and Robert Wilson. Given the self-marketing potential of those blue-chip names, only those in outer space and sensory deprivation chambers will be immune from the upcoming media blitz.