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3D Printed Sculptures Bring Famous Portraits to Life

Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Daniel Warnecke’s 3D-printed take on the famous portrait. Images courtesy of the artist

Daniel Warnecke’s work takes classic portraits and gives them thoroughly contemporary updates. He restyles the subjects, making the Girl with a Pearl Earring a ripped-jean wearing millennial, while Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy becomes a track suited youth. But Warnecke doesn’t just update the portraits’ styles, he also updates their medium: his takes on these iconic works are all 3D-printed sculptures.

Warnecke describes his work ethos as “when new technologies meet old traditions.” “This is to emphasize the fact that we may be led down new paths as creators through contemporary processes and innovative methods,” he tells The Creators Project, “but also we must look at why the masters were so successful to understand what it takes to create great portraiture and make it count.”

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Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, September 1889

The portraits are scanned by simultaneously using 240 DSLR cameras and 3D printing the resulting file. “My studio and collaborators in making the work, Backface, have also just been awarded the Guinness world record for the worlds largest 3D printed person,” writes Warnecke, “So is it an exciting time for us now as the possibilities for 3D printing are endless.”

Diane Arbus’s Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey

Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy

Daniel Warnecke’s work is currently on view at London private club Searcys. You can catch it at Birthdays in Dalston on April 26th, or at the GX Gallery Camberwell on May 4th.

Related:

MoMA Just Acquired A 3D-Printed Dress

Please Touch the Art: 3D Printed Masterworks for the Blind

[Longreads] Additivism: 3D Printing’s Call to Action

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