Until last month, you probably had neither the time nor the inclination to recreate a Jeff Koons sculpture out of a pile of old socks. But that was in your previous life. Now that we’re all trying to stave off isolation madness by finding creativity anywhere, including our sock drawers, art lovers with time on their hands have been inundating the social media accounts of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with recreations of the museum’s art works.
Last week, the museum, which is currently closed due to the Covid-19 crisis, challenged its social media followers to impersonate works of art from the collection using three household items. The challenge, inspired by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and a Dutch Instagram account, Tussenkunstenquarantaine (which means Between Art and Quarantine), received “countless creative interpretations of iconic artworks”, according to Getty Museum staff.
Irises, 1889, Vincent Van Gogh. Re-creation via Twitter DM by Cara Jo O’Connell and family. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Twitter
Bored, quarantined art enthusiasts have recruited their children, pets, food, laundry and stuffed animals to recreate works from the Getty collection, which ranges from Neolithic clay figurines to contemporary photography and can be searched online here. On Thursday, The J. Paul Getty Trust also announced that it will create a $10 million Covid-19 relief fund to support nonprofit museums in LA.
So if you relish the prospect of recreating El Greco ruffs with coffee filters, 18th-century wigs with toilet rolls, Munch’s The Scream on toast, and Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear using a banana and a bike helmet, follow the Getty’s twitter account.
Check out more inspired submissions from the challenge below:
Self-Portrait, Yawning, by 1783, Joseph Ducreux. Re-creation on Instagram by Paul Morris. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Instagram
Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type, 2700–2300 B.C. Recreation via Facebook DM by Irena Ochódzka. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Facebook
Mantel Clock, about 1785, clock case attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire, design attributed to Jean-Guillaume Miotte, clock dials enameled by Henri-François Dubuisson. Re-creation on Twitter by Sandro Alberti. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Twitter
Laughing Fool, ca. 1500, attributed to Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen. Re-creation via Facebook DM by Tiffanie Pierini Ho. Photo: Davis Museum at Wellesley College; Facebook
Interior with an Easel, Bredgade 25, 1912, Vilhelm Hammershøi. Re-creation via Facebook DM by Tracy McKaskle. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Facebook
Lot and His Daughters, about 1622, Orazio Gentileschi. Recreation on Twitter by Qie Zhang, Erik Carlsson, and their daughters. Photo: J. Paul Getty Museum; Twitter
The Astronomer, 1668, Johannes Vermeer. Recreation on Twitter and via Facebook DM by Ann Zumhagen-Krause and her husband. Photo: Wikimedia Commons; Twitter
Imaginary Insect, Tulip, Spider, and Common Pear in Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta, 1561–1562. Re-creation on Twitter by the Martinez family. Photo:J. Paul Getty Museum; Twitter
