There is this new photo app called Prisma everybody’s talking about right now.
Probably you have seen all your hipster friends changing their profile photo on Facebook to that one created with Prisma. Probably all your hipster friends thanks to this app finally found out who Heisenberg, or even better, Chagall was. Or they didn’t.
But to get straight to the point – as you know, we are DailyArtDaily.com and we write about art history. We also try to be up to date with stuff (even if it is about Pokèmons). So I connected all the dots and decided to use all the Prisma art filters on my cat and show them to you. With comparisons to the originals.
Please meet Pimpek the Cat…
1. with the “Roy” filter
Young and cute Pimpek looks like a huge noodle drowned in smaller noodles. It is quite difficult to compare him to the classic pop-art masterpieces inspired by comic books and created by Roy Lichtenstein, to mention “M-Maybe” from 1965. I am disappointed. (Where are the dots? Why noodles?)
2. OK, maybe Lichtenstein was too contemporary for Pimpek the Cat. Let’s try with something more classy.
Guess which filter it is? The colors should tell you something. Of course it is Munch’s “The Scream”. Pimpek the Cat looks exactly like the upper part of the sky presented on the painting, so there is SOME similarity.
3. Mondrian anyone?
Piet Mondrian was all about grids of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors. But to be fair, he also tried a bit different approach – he broke down his subject (in this case a tree, you must believe me) into interlocking black lines and planes of color. He also limited his palette to close-valued ochre and gray tones that recall Cubist canvases. You can find a bit of that on Pimpek’s neck and tail, so it is OK.
4. Let’s smoothly move to the Wave
This actually made me laugh. What Prisma took from famous Hokusai woodcut is actually… foam. All those tiny dots resembles the sea foam coming from the wave that tries to drown the boat. But it makes Pimpek the Cat much more dynamic, doesn’t it?
5. Time for Kandinsky and his musical paintings
Kandinsky’s filter in the app is called “Transverse Line”. Kandinsky loved music because for him it was abstract by nature – it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses in an immediate way the inner feelings of the soul. He even called his most spontaneous paintings “improvisations” and described more elaborate works as “compositions.” I picked this most musical photo of Pimpek the Cat to make the filter work in a full swing. You can see the result yourself.
6. Raoul
This filter is actually very surprising – it is called Raoul, after Raoul Dufy. He was a French Fauvist painter, noted for scenes of open-air social events. But again, Pimpek the cat doesn’t look like the best model for Raoul filter. He lacks Dufy’s original playful style and vibrant colors.
7. Bonus
Disappointed with the results of filtering Pimpek the Cat with Prisma I decided to give the app the last chance – with a different model. I have chosen the Plastic Dinosaur that scares people in the corridor of one of the Polish universities. He seemed to be the most appropriate for the last filter – Mark, after Mark Chagall. And here it is, in the same as “Over the Town” colors and a bit square.
8. The Summary
What I wanted to say after this test – Pimpek the Cat is completely useless for Prisma app. He doesn’t look like he should. Maybe it’s because he is too furry, maybe he looks too lazy. The app worked better with the Plastic Dinosaur but still, I am a bit disappointed with the results. Or maybe I should say I am envious, because our mobile app, DailyArt never became so popular (but you can change this awful situation and download it now for iOS/Android) 🙂 Still, don’t use Prisma on your cat!
