People of status always dominated in portraits, not only
because of their elevated social rank but also because it cost a fortune to
commission a painting. Nowadays, however, there are millions of cheaper and
faster ways to immortalize one's image, making portrait paintings a somewhat
unnecessary medium. Just like the medium, the subjects of portraits have also
changed: royalty and nobles don't have as much importance as they used to have,
and they've slowly been exchanged for a modern version of people of status
celebrities. Instagram artist Kyès digitally recreates classical paintings by
substituting people that were important back in the day with people who are
considered to be important in pop culture nowadays. In short, this substitution
works, probably because the classical painting style subconsciously elevates
the subject of the painting onto a higher plane than just simply mundane. A
modern analogy would be a "star," which also signifies this sort of
specialness. In other words, classical paintings and celebrities are a match
made in heaven.
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