Hyperrealistic Picasso

Eugenio Merino, a Spanish sculptor from Picasso’s birthplace of Malaga, has created the life-like statue of Pablo Picasso for a new exhibition highlighting the problems of tourism for locals. Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881 he died in France in 1973 having helped create one of the 20th century’s most important artistic movements in Cubism.The work is displayed inside a gift shop and viewers are allowed to take selfies with it, which Merino says will demonstrate how a complex artist and his work has been reduced to souvenir status. Picasso initially started out painting relatively life- like portraits influenced by impressionism, but soon incorporated surreal elements and motifs from African art, creating Cubism.The work is constructed from fiberglass, resin and plastic and has been coated with silicone and embedded with real human hair. Merino matched the model to the artist’s real height, 5’3″ and based it on photographs of him. The artist was well-known in his later years for wearing a striped top, cloth trousers and rope-soled shoes, which he is dressed in for the show.

Merino is allowing tourists to take pictures with the statue, including with selfie sticks which have been banned from most museums, in a move which he hopes will help to prove his point. During his early years in Paris, Picasso was so poor that much of his early work was burned into order to heat his apartment. Today he holds the record for most expensive artwork ever sold, at $117million.Merino said tourism is often harmful to local communities, pushing people out of their homes as prices rise and drawing in huge crowds of people who put a strain on resources. While Picasso often takes all of the credit for having developed Cubism, in fact he created the artistic movement alongside collaborator Georges Braque.Merino (pictured rear) is known for creating sculptures of dead people from history. He has previously made a mode of dictator Franco inside a Coca-Cola fridge, and of Osama bin Laden at a rave. Picasso set the mold for modern artists, and is often cited as the first painter to have achieved real fame while still alive.

The “real” Pablo Picasso:

The related Daily Mail article is here: That’s a good impression(ism): Hyperrealistic sculpture of Picasso complete with HUMAN HAIR goes on display in his birthplace of Malaga.