These Dark and Silly GIFs Were Inspired By Famous Paintings

Amsterdam-based artist Kajetan Obarski digitally remixes paintings to create new (often morbidly funny and sometimes a bit gory) stories. You can see Goya's Saturn share some of his son's arm with a flock of pigeons in the park, for example, or Vincent van Gogh disappointedly getting a pair of headphones for his birthday. There's also an ongoing series about a skeleton in a tutu terrorizing townsfolk. Obarski's creations range from brilliantly creative to absurdly bizarre (a horse riding a horse, anyone?). 

“No matter what I animate, there’s always a little bit of my venom in it,” Obarski told Hyperallergic. “I’m a nice guy but at the same time I’m a malicious grumpy gnome.”

Obarski, known online as Kiszkiloszki, started his blog in November 2015, but had been working on the GIFs for some time prior. Each one takes a lot of work (and as many as eight hours) from conception to animation and upload. Obarski says he will often listen to Japanese noise, free jazz, and even Frank Zappa while creating these deeply silly animations. 

"Is this art? I don’t know," Obarski told Dioniso Punk. "Yes, they call me an artist sometimes but I’ve just made some animations. There is a strong possibility that people will start to call me a filmaker [sic] as well."

[h/t Hyperallergic]

Images via Kajetan Obarski (Kiszkiloszki).