BEAUTY: Painting--James Roper

James Roper recreates Renaissance and Baroque paintings but only using the sumptuous folds of fabric, the shine of metal, and the rocky landscapes of Da Vinci backgrounds. The resulting swirl of those elements is really quite pleasant...

Top to bottom: Aurum ex tenebris (Metanoia V); Litora Aurea Lux (Metanoia IV); Metanoia I; Metanoia II; Metanoia III

http://jroper.co.uk/

BEAUTY: Painting--Frank Mesaric

The arresting work of Frank Mesaric features empty, realistic settings charged with meaning under a ghostly superimposition of a black and white version of a famous Baroque painting. The pairings seem to be loosely linked in a kind of stream-of-consciousness way. The Beheading of Halofernes by Caravaggio floats over a leather sofa. A maritime rescue vessel puts out a fire while Georges De La Tour's Magdalene with the Smoking Flame sits nearby. Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson hovers ominously over a stripped hospital bed in an empty corridor. And finally, and most chillingly, Supper at Emmaus appears next to an F-117 fighter among what must be the burning Kuwaiti oil fields from the Gulf War.

Top to bottom: Couch and The Beheading of Halofernes; Deep Water and St. Mary Magdelene with the Smoking Flame; Entry Door and The Inspiration of Saint Matthew; F-117 Night Hawk and Supper at Emmaus; Fulham Railway Crossing and Dead Christ; Hospital Bed and The Anatomy Lesson; Passage Window and Christ Embracing Saint Bernard; Bridge at Tarraville and The Virgin Mourning Christ

http://www.frankmesaric.com/