Grande Odalisque, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1814) / Doo Wop, Lauryn Hill
Artists Gisella Velasco and Toni Potenciano have created this witty collection of images that pair up popular hip hop lyrics with the most famous painting of all time.
While this duo’s image gallery in Tumblr surely steals plenty of laughs, behind the irony and irreverence seems to lie a more profound meaning. It lays serious questions about popular culture and how people use art and music to communicate what is happening in their time. What becomes popular and why? Is it possible that many cultural ideas are in fact ‘timeless’ and they are expressed in different way throughout history?
However, the artists state that their goal is simply to “homage to the good things in life: fine art and fresh hip hop.” What do you think?
Noli Me Tangere (1442), Fra Angelico / U Can’t Touch This, MC Hammer
Icarus and Daedalus by Frederic Leighton (c. 1869) — “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” by The Offspring
L’Absinthe by Edgar Degas (1876) — “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Dogg
Guernica (1937), Pablo Picasso / Who Will Survive In America?, Kanye West ft. Gil Scott-Heron
The Family of Henry VIII (c. 1572), Lucas de Heere / Big Poppa, The Notorious B.I.G.
The Familiar Objects (1928), Rene Magritte / The Real Slim Shady, Eminem
The Arnolfini Marriage (1434), Jan van Eyck / End of Time, Beyoncé
Louis XIV (1701), Hyacinthe Rigaud / Tom Ford, Jay-Z ft. Beyonce
The Starry Night (1889), Vincent van Gogh / Diamonds From Sierra Leone, Kanye West
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Pablo Picasso (1907) / Single Ladies, Beyonce
You can find more of these fine, bad *** artworks in the artists’ Tumblr.
Image Source: Fly Art Tumblr.
