Despite the app having been around for a while now, it’s gained significant traction across various social media platforms in recent weeks, which has subsequently sent Google’s Arts and Culture App into the stratosphere. Yes, the Google Arts and Culture App which we first blogged about recently has hit the headlines again of late, thanks to the continuing selfie craze. And adding further kudos to the unique, light-hearted app which strives to compare the user’s selfie to that of a famous contemporary artist (living or, as is often more likely the case, dead), is the underlying fact that an increasing number of instantly recognizable celebrity faces have discovered the app and shared their (often hilarious) results on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for all our viewing pleasures.
The Google Arts and Culture app first saw the light of day back in 2016, however it’s taken until January 2018 before going viral; which has a lot to do with the app being updated to encourage users to compare their selfies to iconic compositional works lifted from the pantheons of art history. C’mon now folks, just WHO hasn’t ever wondered who their fine art doppelganger is?! Well, according to the stats, precious few of you, as vast swathes of the general public have reached for their smartphones to graphically determine whether they resemble the subject of Edvard Munch’s, ‘The Scream’ or Sir Joshua Reynolds’, ‘John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore’ (Google it, if in doubt).
Introducing Famous Art/Artist Face-Off!
Daft, yet harmless at the same time, it’s the simplicity (and of course, novelty value) of the app’s timely update which has really caught the public’s imagination, and ultimately led them take their selfie obsession to yet another level. Albeit a slightly more cultural one. And naturally enough, the app isn’t without its technical hiccups. Although this has more to do with users sometimes being a little displeased with the occasional less-than-flattering result, we’d have imagined. Apparently the pairing process isn’t entirely fool-proof, understandably given that the app has to analyse a face and then trawl literally thousands of historical portraits for a potential match. Having said that, it’s these unavoidable mishaps which have created the most attention, not least those posted by some celebs who have jumped on the Arts and Culture selfie app.
Back in the real world, and we can certainly put you in a better frame of mind, if not put yourself in a famous frame, if you get our drift. Courtesy of sourcing, supplying and stocking the very latest limited edition collections by a wealth of contemporary figurative and portrait artists – such as Emma Grzonkowski, John Jones, Keith Maiden and Rob Bishop – you can observe both famous (and not so famous) faces staring back at you from the wall of your living space, anytime, anywhere.