Everywhere you turn, people have their noses pressed against a mobile device. Technology is a wonderful and sometimes maddening thing, which is why illustrator Kim Dong-Kyu (whose work we spotted on Co.Create) has made modern-day gadgets the focus of the series Art x Smart. The artist has transformed famous paintings by giving each figure an iPhone, laptop, iPad or other mobile device. It’s not hard to imagine that the crowd in Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte would have their phones in their faces, snapping shots of the lush Parisian retreat to post on Instagram. The moodiness and narrative of Edward Hopper’s Hotel Room has an entirely different feel when we see a phone in the woman’s hand. Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles could easily be a bedroom in Brooklyn, thanks to a web of wires on the floor and a MacBook. See historical artworks transformed by tech gadgets in our gallery.
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
The Card Players, after The Card Players by Paul Cézanne
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Don’t Take the iPad in the Bathroom, after The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Music for Dreaming, after The Dream by Pablo Picasso
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
When You See the Amazing Sight, after Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
His Room, after Bedroom in Arles (The Bedroom) by Vincent van Gogh
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Luncheon, after The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe) by Édouard Manet
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Sunday Afternoon, after A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
In a Cafe, after L’Absinthe by Edgar Degas
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Old Man in Sorrow, after Old Man in Sorrow by Vincent van Gogh
Image credit: Kim Dong-Kyu
Hotel Room, after Hotel Room by Edward Hopper