A Maddox Online Debut: Dan Alva takes 5

 

 

I had this painting in my house until recently and it really made me reflect on the incredible story of Leonardo da Vinci’s Leda and the Swan. I’m obsessed with stories of disappearing artworks and the idea that they might still be out there, hidden in an attic, waiting to be found. The version you see here remixes a copy by Il Sodoma, created around 1510, of the lost da Vinci original. Many da Vinci sketches exist of this painting, and I love how my version celebrates the mystique of the original, of which so little is known. The white camouflage conceals elements of the painting, just as the original is concealed from the world.

 

 

 

Princesse de Broglie by the neoclassical French artist Jean-August-Dominique Ingres, is one of my favourite artworks to paint. I have mastered the transparency of the lace on her dress, the jewellery, the tones, and I love the blue. If you have a blue colour scheme in your house, this is the painting for you. The camouflage here is inspired by a wallpaper design. Playing with the aesthetic interaction between the different source materials, it’s a visual progression from the all-white camo, creating the sensation that the princess is melting into the background.

 

 

 

 

With Bada Bing Bada Boom, I have juxtaposed two paintings people are very familiar with - Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and a spin painting by Damien Hirst - but which have never been placed together before. I’m the biggest Damien Hirst fan. He’s a visionary in terms of his process and it’s incredible how he came to own the concept of spin painting, which is basically a toy that kids paint with, by elevating it to the level of fine art. I love how the energy of this painting is focussed in the middle, around her eyes, because of the direction of the spin painting. I played around with the composition a lot, changing the blue tones and the degree of saturation, and adding golds to complement the colours in the Vermeer. This is boom, in your face, in terms of colour. It’s a lot of fun. 

 

 

  

 

 

In Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Series, he immortalised Marilyn Monroe, showing all the different sides of her personality through the different colour variations, which are among the most iconic images in the canon of art history. Then you’ve got Chanel No. 5, a silk screen print created by Andy Warhol in 1985, shortly before he died, and a fragrance that Marilyn completely embodied. Either You’re Somebody, Or You Ain’t Nobody is a visual representation of that strong connection between the two - the incomparable classiness of Marilyn Monroe and what she stood for, and Chanel, a brand that has honed an aesthetic that is so pure and iconic. While the bottle of Chanel No. 5 can be seen as a contemporary immortalisation of Marilyn, it also represents the fact that, during his career, Warhol became more famous than the brands he was depicting. Here, instead of obstructing the view, the less-obvious camouflage reflects that blurring of meaning in the original. 

 

 

  

 

The Superman image comes from Andy Warhol’s Myths Series, which features some of the most iconic fictional characters from the 20th century. I love how this painting reveals two very different sides to Superman, reflecting the age-old concept of good vs. evil. The darker element of my painting is quite close to the original Warhol iteration, while the brightly coloured Superman camouflages into reality. It asks the question: does something more sinister lurk behind Superman’s traditional do-good image? For this painting, I wanted the negative and the positive to really shine. It fits nicely within the transitional art space and the wider conversation that is happening right now between the real and the not real, crypto vs. printed money, human vs. AI.