Filipino ‘mash-up’ artist shares instant fame

Mash-up art by Eisen Bernard Bernardo: No twerking. Bernardo calls this the “Portrait of Madame Miley.” A cover photo of Miley Cyrus on Vanity Fair Italy’s October 2013 issue superimposed on the “Portrait of Madame Récamier” by Jacques-Louis David. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna–Who would have thought that a little tweaking on the computer could suddenly rock the world of 28-year-old multimedia artist Eisen Bernard Bernardo. Not even him, he says.

In fact, Bernardo says he was “just bored and got nothing else better to do” after Typhoon “Glenda” hit Los Baños town in Laguna province in August, tripping major power lines. He fired up his laptop computer with electricity tapped from a neighbor’s house which happened to have its electricity restored sooner—and worked on his magic.

No real magic, though, but Adobe Photoshop (not even the latest version of the computer program) that Bernardo uses to seamlessly superimpose magazine covers onto classical paintings.

And voila! It’s Angelina Jolie on Sandro Botticelli’s 1486 “The Birth of Venus.”

“I just look for (photos of) random magazine covers, usually the iconic ones, and place them over to fit (in the pictures of) classical paintings. It’s just like playing a puzzle,” Bernardo says.

Netizens, especially from Europe and the United States, call it “mash-up,” “parodied arts,” or digital pop art. The idea is no different from creating an Internet meme, of which the most common in the Philippines are images of celebrities or political leaders with catchphrases that make a whole new hilarious or sarcastic idea.

Bernardo, so far, has over a hundred of the mashed-up images uploaded on his blogsite Mag+Art, including:

The face of Adele from a 2011 cover of Rolling Stone on Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

Vogue Spain’s 2012 cover of Penelope Cruz on Picasso’s “Portrait of Olga.”

Jake Gyllenhaal on Details Magazine’s 2005 cover fitting perfectly on Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.”

V Magazine’s 2012 cover of Justin Bieber superimposed on Balthus’ “The King of Cats.”

In August, Boredpanda, described on its website as a visual art and design magazine, sent Bernardo an e-mail asking for permission to feature his works.

“It started like that then one (interview) came after another. Once I found myself on Skype with someone from Huffington Post France at midnight because of the time difference (between the Philippines and abroad),” he says.

Soon, Bernardo’s works were featured in other foreign online and print magazines, newspapers and arts blog sites, among them Daily Mail, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan France, Lomography, Interview Germany and Rolling Stone Italy.

He was also offered an exhibit run for his works in a gallery in Brazil.

Debates

But not everyone is happy about it and Bernardo, a graduate of Development Communication at University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), has expected it.

“Some (readers) said it’s not even an art because all I did was to copy and paste (two photographs together). One (reader feedback) even read I am not an artist because I don’t paint at all,” he says.

But others, he says, believe in what he does and that he “elevated (online) discussions to interpretations on humor, irony, feminism and even freedom of expression.”

A few of those that stirred debates were Bernardo’s art piece featuring Janet Jackson’s seductive pose, which appeared on Rolling Stone’s September 1993 cover, on William Adolphe Bouguereau’s “Baigneuse,” and Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” with a picture instead of Keira Knightley smoking a cigarette.

He also has a magazine cover of Miley Cyrus with her back naked superimposed on the “Portrait of Madame Récamier” of Jacques-Louis David, making it appear that the rest of the popular singer’s body is covered.

When Robin Williams passed away, Bernardo came out with a piece, blending a 2013 cover of the actor on Parade Magazine with Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Père Tanguy.”

Then someone left a comment that it evoked something about depression—

both Williams and Van Gogh. I thought, wow, I should start thinking like that,” he said.

Fame 

Bernardo says he has always been interested in the arts and his favorites are the works of Pablo Picasso and Gustav Klimt. But in college, he was disappointed to get a low mark in his art class. “I was really dismayed, I studied (arts) harder,” he says.

He frequented book sales where he rummaged for art books and old magazines. He also liked fashion and celebrities, with his favorite Hollywood actresses Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz.

“I always have this feeling that this (magazine) cover I’ve seen before would fit in this particular painting,” in terms of color, the pose or the idea, he said.

Bernardo currently works as a writer and a multimedia producer at the Asean Centre for Biodiversity with an office based in Los Baños. He previously worked at the UPLB Office of Public Relations and taught part-time at De La Salle University in Canlubang, Calamba City, also in Laguna.

Bernardo says he is just having fun and does not intend to make money out of the mash-up arts.

He quotes American artist Andy Warhol in saying that “everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes, so maybe this is already my 15 minutes,” which he happily uses to arouse art discussions, whether internationally or locally.