Magazine mash-up

Pop culture meets classic paintings as artist seamlessly blends cover stars into famous portraits

It might be hard to imagine Lady Gaga blending in with anything other than a space ship let alone a classical painting, however for one artist this was a clear vision.

Multimedia producer Eisen Bernard Bernado has created quirky artwork that re-imagines fine art with the faces of modern day celebrities as they feature on the cover of popular magazines.

Eisen, 28, from Los Baños, Philippines, has created the clever works for his series called Mag + Art, seeing Angelina Jolie take the place of Venus in Botticelli’s classic painting the Birth of Venus and Adele fits perfectly into Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

In Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, Keira Knightley evolves her innocent persona by smoking a cigarette on the cover of Interview magazine.

Far from just an amusing coincidence, Eisen says it is an obvious combination and that many publications take influence from classical art.

‘I feel that a lot of magazine covers are inspired directly as well as indirectly by classical paintings. The similarities and references can be observed.’

The Philippino artist also uses his pieces to hail the lost art of printed publications. 

‘My art is my way of comparing and contrasting modern and classical aesthetics. Also, in this day when everyone is saying that “print media is dead”, it is a way of promoting the print medium to the internet generation’.

Despite his work’s seamless appearance he says that his choices are not always clear cut and it can take several attempts to get it right.

‘It is like I am assembling a jigsaw puzzle. It’s trial and error.. Most are just a product of a beautiful accident. All of them are unplanned and I’m always surprised with the output. I just wanted every piece to evoke a humorous or fascinating effect on the viewer.

‘It is my way of giving homage to the magazines – as venue of human artistic expression and vehicle of popular culture.’

Eisen posts all his works on Tumblr and has received a mixed response about his work.

‘Some people think my work is genius because the idea is very simple, but no-one has done anything like this before.

‘The works also challenge the audience to compare and contrast classical and modern aesthetics.’

As with many artists, Eisen’s work is met with as much criticism as it is praise with some critics claiming it is blasphemous to original artwork.

‘But for some people what I did is sacrilegious, and they think I am disrespecting the works of the masters, which is not the case.

‘I’m fond of homage, similarities and references in movies, music, and other art forms to classical works and that’s what I wanted to explore.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2750728/Magazine-mash-Pop-culture-meets-classic-paintings-artist-seamlessly-blends-cover-stars-famous-portraits.html#ixzz3CxzCoTOY
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