Jon Rafman is an artist living in Montreal, Canada. I found him on rhizome.org when I saw an image from his “Brand New Paint Job” series, which is an ongoing series of images that he has been posting to a blog. He creates these images by using environments, interiors, and objects that he takes from Google's 3D Warehouse, which is a collection of 3D models that users can post and share. Once he has one of these models, he then creates a sort of wallpaper out of different artistic masterpieces and covers that object or room in the artist's work. All of the images are 2D, but they depict 3D models.
The environments or objects and canonical artwork that Rafman combines usually seem to have something in common with one another. For example, Van Gogh Volkswagen lays several of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings on top of a Volkswagen van. Besides the alliteration in the name, and the fact that both artist and object share a word (van), Van Gogh's paintings seem to fit on this van because of what it has come to represent. It creates a whimsical feeling that is often associated with these vans because of the era they are associated with. There is also the obvious contrast going on between the classic paintings and 3D models gathered from the internet.
This piece, Pollock Tank, creates a similar connection. The dripping splatters of Jackson Pollock's painting create the same look as camouflage.
Jasper Johns Oval Office
Rousseau Rocking Horse
This piece, Chuck Close Bathroom, is an example of one of the interior spaces. So, like the name says, it is a 3D model of a bathroom taken from the 3D Warehouse and overlaid with several different paintings or images by Chuck Close. Since these are portraits, there is a much clearer division in the separation of the images. They are clearly shown in grids and lines, whereas some of the other images are covered in more abstract paintings, making it harder to see the line or pull out the original artwork.
The connection here isn't as clear ast the examples above. But what I found interesting is that Rafman used Close's more precise, photograph-like portraits to cover the surface of the floor and the sink, bathtub and toilet and a self-portrait, that actually looks more like paint and is in color, to cover the walls. Rafman uses the black and white realistic portraits on the surfaces that would most likely be black and white, and would be made of some material like porcelain, to create the same effect as that material. The floor is so shiny and clean that you can see the reflection of the walls in it. He contrasts this with the walls, which are colorful and have more texture, to make it feel more like a painted or wallpapered wall. Also, the use of portraits is interesting because the bathroom is the place for us to take care of ourselves, to get ready and bathe. It is a personal space, so the use of portraits parallels that idea.
The only criticism I have about this piece are that the toilet, sink, and bathtub get a little lost in the image because the portrait covering them is so similar to the one covering the floor. Also, I was unsure whether the portrait of Bill Clinton was meant to be just that, a portrait hanging on the wall, or a reflection in a mirror.
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