New York City’s lower east side merges with Parisian chic as these classical greek sculptures are transformed into Hipster Statues.
Artist: Leo Caillard
Project: Hipster In Stone (Hipster Statues)
Country: Paris, France
Website: leocaillard.com
After spending a day at the Louvre in Paris, photographer Leo Caillard had the genius idea to dress classic statues in what he calls “hipster” clothing. These nude statues represent an ideal iconic figure, a concept of perfection. By clothing them, Caillard is addressing the power of representation as Hipster Statues. Earlier in the year, we wrote about another young Parisian artist going by the name “Travis Durden” who showcased a similar exhibit, titled “Contre Attaque” (roughly translating to “counter attack” in French) at Galerie Sakura in Paris where the artist reimagined Classic sculptures as Star Wars Characters.
“What is the importance of clothing in our modern society?”
To make these Hipster Statues, Caillard first photographed the individual statues. He then casted people who had the same body shape as the statues. He asked them to dress in “hipster-style” clothing for the shoot. He photographed the models in studio matching them with the position of the statue and using the same lighting. In post, he combines both photographs to make his final image.
“This series asks the question “What is the importance of clothing in our modern society?” How you dress is who you are. When you dress statues, suddenly no longer are they simply reclining figures from the distant past, they now look to be figures from modern and hip cities of today. Because they are made relevant to our current styles, we can see the realism and humanity in each figure.”
– Leo Caillard
For those of you that are fans of the modern take on classic sculptures, be sure to check out this similar style of exhibit where Star Wars characters are reimagined as classical greek statues that we wrote about previously.
