Lee Kyu Hak Recreates Famous Paintings Using Styrofoam

Inspired by Van Gogh's distinctive style, Korean artist Kyu-Hak creates the Dutch painter's iconic works by wrapping bits of newspaper and magazines around pieces of Styrofoam to create stunning mixed-media mosaics for a collection he calls "The Monumental Series."

Lee uses pieces of Styrofoam to imitate each of Van Gogh's paint strokes, covering the pieces with colorful strips of newspaper and magazines and re-wrapping them with hanji, a traditional Korean paper. The artworks, which are on display at the Black Square Gallery in Miami and Yesong Gallery in Seoul, contain about 25,000 to 30,000 pieces of Styrofoam each.

"To me, Styrofoam was the best material symbolizing the modern civilization," Lee said, explaining that he decided to work with mixed-media because it best represented the "vanity" of contemporary culture. "Styrofoam is easily broken and easily melted with heat, but non-biodegradable like plastic."

The Korean artist has lent his mixed-media touch to several of the 19th-century artist's works, including "Still Life: Vase with Irises," "Blooming Almond Tree" and "The Night Café."

[via Yesongart via NY Daily News]