'Happy Go Lucky' by Shawn Huckins

Imagine if Napoleon Bonaparte had an Instagram account, or if Pauline de Broglie was on Twitter. In his upcoming solo exhibition at Galerie Bessiéres in France, Denver-based artist Shawn Huckins satirically juxtaposes French history with internet culture.

Titled Happy Go Lucky, the collection features paintings based on 18th and 19th century portraits by French artists which Shawn painstakingly copied by hand. Superimposed over the images are hand-painted texts and symbols that remind us how our language is currently being radically transformed.

For example, Shawn recreates Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's The Valpinçon Bather with the words PLZ DELETE ME. Bashi-Bazouk, painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1869, is embellished with the words M K WHTEVR. Renoir's Pére Fournaise gets the Internet slang LMAO printed across the old man's face.

Happy Go Lucky is opening at Galerie Bessiéres on October 4, 2019, and will be on show through November 17, 2019.

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