Beer is hardly a geeky icon, being appreciated by people both lacking and abundant in nerdiness. However, beer bottle caps are a different story – when used to create art pieces like this incredible 7′ x 9′ mosaic of Starry Night, they make for an unquestionably geek-worthy medium.
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most recognizable paintings to come out of the post-impressionist movement, and it’s very suitable to being transformed into a beer bottle cap mosaic, as the painting itself looks like a mosaic made out of colours and brushstrokes. True to its impressionistic nature, this work of art looks blurry when seen up-close, but from a distance the subject becomes clear.
Though it seems like a kitschy medium, the beer bottle caps look like shiny glass jewels from a distance, as they capture a wide range of colours that do the original painting justice while not directly copying it. The reinterpretation is nowhere near as vibrant as the original, but the varying textures create an interesting composition, from the muted night sky to the glowing stars. These earthy tones aren’t present in Starry Night, but they make for a very rich piece.
A whopping 8,000 beer bottle caps were used to create this painting, and at a glance, it’s pretty clear that dozens of different beer brands were used for this piece. I can’t even imagine how one would acquire this huge number of beer bottle caps, unless they were bought directly from the manufacturer. Though the piece was made by two university students – and university students are stereotyped as heavy drinkers – I don’t think many people drink 8,000 beers in an entire lifetime.
It must have taken an astounding amount of time to assemble the Starry Night beer bottle cap mosaic, but the overall result is beautiful. It’s hard to say that any replica lives up to the beauty of the original masterpiece, but this one definitely brings something new to the table.
For more nerdy artistic mosaics, check out this Jimi Hendrix mosaic made out of guitar picks, or this portrait of The Joker made from Rubik’s Cubes. If you’re in the mood to see a modern interpretation of a classic glitch, check out this Tiling Glitch art installation instead.
Via: Illusion
