Classical Paintings Rock Modern Tats

Since its return to Paris, the Mondial du Tatouage has become one of the largest international tattoo exhibitions ever held, with approximately 32,000 people in attendance last year. In anticipation for the upcoming event, Nicolas Amiard, the French digital artist known for his Star Wars-themed vignettes, released a new series of photo manipulations entitled, The Art of Tattoo. In his latest body of work, Amiard exercises his Photoshop dexterity by fitting modern day tattoos onto some of Western painting’s most recognizable subjects. Amiard uses masterpieces from the 17th and 18th century as his canvas: Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa flaunts an intricate portrait of a woman’s face on her chest as well as some intimidating knuckle tats. The nude woman from Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass is covered in ink with a red half sleeve and a fluorescent thigh tat. “For this event, I wondered to myself what if modern tattooists meet classical painters,” he tells The Creators Project. 

Check out a few pieces from the series below:

This year the tattooing extravaganza is being held at The Grande Halle de la Villette during the first weekend in March. For more information check out the show’s website here. More from the artist here.

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