Top: detail of The Apotheosis of High-End Consumerism. Bottom: thumbnail of the full collage. Click to explore on www.photocollagist.com
What you see here is possibly the largest Bouguereau mashup ever created. The original image by Darrell Taylor, who publishes as photocollagist on DeviantArt, is 42,600 pixels wide, by 6,600 tall. Printed at 300 dpi, the picture is twelve feet (365cm) wide. In Darrell’s own words:
‘This “surreallegory” uses current images and classic works of art to comment on a meta-religion that transcends traditional categorizations of world faiths: the deification of consumer goods–or, more simply, materialism. It was inspired by Jan van Eyck’s altarpiece at Ghent, the writings and etchings of William Blake, and the Home Shopping Network.’
‘Besides images of current photography, I stole/borrowed a number of images from works of art from the 15th to the 19th century [...] But most prominent in this image are the works of the 19th century French academic painter, William-Adolph Bouguereau, whose “licked finish” nudes were contemporary (!) with the explosion of impressionism in other French artists of the time, the etchings, paintings, and poems of the 19th century British revolutionary, William Blake, and the matchless Ghent altarpiece, The Adoration of the Lamb, by Belgium’s 15th century Jan Van Eyck.’
‘I have imagined a dystopian apocalypse, featuring a cult of shopper-believers who bear witness to the transfiguration of consumer goods into heavenly deities, abetted by media’s relentess selling, and supported by the repression and exploitation of 3rd-world slaves, who produce our outsourced marketables. Some may notice a political statement as the dominant subtext.’
Below are some of the original Bouguereau paintings used in the collage. Click to visit the galleries.
