Skino Ricci

The crypto art of remix and remake

by Duke +1 Duke +1 is a multidisciplinary Designer, Illustrator, Visual Artist & Part-time Alien — who likes to tell stories.

Jan 5, 2021 Artist Statements

SuperRare

3 years ago

Editorial is open for submissions: [email protected]

by Duke +1
Duke +1 is a multidisciplinary Designer, Illustrator, Visual Artist & Part-time Alien — who likes to tell stories.

Reimagine great and famous paintings looks like a cheeky joke.

But, in fact, it’s nowadays part of the pop art tradition.

An artist takes an original work of art and puts his own spin on the piece while still leaving traces of the original work, creating something entirely new. It is basically a reworked abstraction of the original work while still retaining the original piece’s traces while still allowing the original piece’s true meanings to come through.

Famous examples include The Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol (modifies colors and styles of one image), and The Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso.

The internet has caused art to be remixed very quickly, such as using photography to remake a popular piece of art. Without using visual effects, you re-create famous sketches. The interesting thing is that they had varying degrees of interpretation-some individuals opted with picture-perfect representations, while others wanted to concentrate more on the general themes depicted by the original popular oil paintings, or to portray in a new light the same concept or scene.

Composition with Red Blue and Yellow, 1930 by Piet Mondrian (left)
2011 remake by Katie Jackson (right)*

The Beaneater, 1580-1590 by Annibale Carracci (left)
2011 remake by Mark Bass (right)*

Bedroom in Arles, 1888 by Vincent Van Gogh (left)
2011 remake by Joshua Louis Simon (right)*

I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974 by Joseph Beuys (left)
2011 remake by SuttonBeresCuller (right)*
*created by The Booooooom + Adobe Remake photo project

The old masters and their famous works completed before 1803, for viewing by patrons, are usually owned or preserved in museums. Since they are rarely sold by museums, they are considered priceless. Those works are not attainable for the most of the people…

On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris

Guinness World Records records the “Mona Lisa” of Leonardo da Vinci as having the highest insurance value ever for a painting. In December 1962, the Mona Lisa was valued at US$100 million. Taking inflation into account, the value of 1962 will now equate to around US$ 850 million.

It brings a contemporary twist on classic masterpieces by taking a spin from those famous paintings.

It is a typical move by artists to reinterpret popular works of artwork, as most of great art consists of taking influence from those who have gone before.

The following pieces are recreations of the most expensive classical paintings made out of my crypto digital art and bits, while others incorporate new subjects into the original work.

For characters from pop art culture, this is particularly the case.

This is my personal series of 10 of the highest known prices paid for paintings.

165.0 USD — Masterpiece, 1962 by Roy Lichtenstein (left)
only on SuperRare — masterpiece+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

170.4 USD — Nu couché, 1917 by Amedeo Modigliani (left)
soon on SuperRare — nu cuché+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

179.4 USD — Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O), 1955 by Pablo Picasso (left)
soon on SuperRare — les femmes d’alger+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

180.0 USD — Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, 1634 by Rembrandt (left)
soon on SuperRare — pendant portraits of maerten soolmans and oopjen coppit+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

186.0 USD — No. 6, 1951 by Mark Rothko (left)
soon on SuperRare — no. 6+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

200.0 USD — Number 17A, 1948 by Jackson Pollock (left)
soon on SuperRare — number 17a+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

210.0 USD — Nafea Faa Ipoipo, 1892 by Paul Gaugin (left)
soon on SuperRare — nafea faa ipoipo+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

250.0 USD — The Card Players, 1892 by Paul Cézanne (left)
soon on SuperRare — the card players+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

300.0 USD — Interchange, 1955 by Willem de Kooning (left)
soon on SuperRare — Interchange+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

450.3 USD — Salvator Mundi, c.1500 by Leonardo da Vinci (left)
soon on SuperRare — salvator mundi+1, 2020 by Duke +1 (right)

For decades, artists have played this game because it’s one of the most personal relationships with a piece of art you can have. That is why today, crypto artists travesty classic and contemporary artists, which is itself a playful, mocking re-staging of their works.