Supplemental Post 5 - Tucker Rayl

One of my favorite Instagram accounts is Tabloid Art History (@tabloidarthistory). They take photos of celebrities and stitch them next to paintings or other pieces of art that have a similar composition, color palette, or other quality. They're funny. They're irreverent. They're ironic. They combine art and pop culture in a way Gaga never could.

Essentially, they historicize paparazzi shots of celebrities in a very tongue-in-cheek way. By treating the tabloid photos as pieces of art, they point out the power these images have in the public imagination. Tabloid images of celebrities are everywhere - they function as a public art. If we are given the name of celebrity, we can easily draw their face to mind. These photos humanize celebrities but also add to their mythologies, just like the portraits of religious figures and royalty they're posed next to on Tabloid Art History.

Here's some of my favorites: