Rip it to shreds: famous artworks get a postmodern slashing

By creammagazine, October 28, 2026

We love a bit of deconstruction in the art world. The pop artists and surrealists did it best – taking artworks that came before, and recycling these for a more modern cut-and-pastiche aesthetic. Warhol was renowned for it. But so too, Liechtenstein, Magritte, Dalí, Frida Kahlo, and many more.

Artists today continue on the upcycling of classic works – and are having an even better time with the cutting and pasting, thanks to the progress of technology that manages to get things looking pretty precise, no matter how much the former works have been bastardised – hacked at, even, when you view the works of Parisian-based French street artist Thirsty Bstrd, real name Julien Surdeau.

The artist’s style is rather simple – take classic paintings (or simulacrums of these), frame them with what looks like the top of an artwork delivery crate, add effects of torn packaging, et voila, old art becomes new again, and the damage done is kind of beautiful.

New York’s Lower East Side has never been short of creative mischief, and Krause Gallery is a fitting address for artists who prefer their art history with a little attitude. Located at 149 Orchard Street, the contemporary gallery champions imaginative, boundary-pushing art, with a programme spanning emerging and established artists. The current focus is on a couple of cheeky deconstructionists, the aforementioned Thirsty Bstrd, and Florence-based Italian artist Leo Manelli. That’s Manelli’s work, featured at the top of this story, and as you can see it’s classic and epic, and quirky cheeky, each in equal measure.

The new exhibition at the Krause Gallery is entitled This Side Up, and it sees Thirsty and Leo sharing wall space for their reworkings of familiar art-historical imagery.

Running from now until 6 November 2026, the exhibition takes recognisable visual traditions and puts them into unexpected contexts, inviting viewers to reconsider how art acquires meaning, value and cultural significance over time.

The exhibition’s sweet spot is the collision of eras: old-master elegance meets contemporary art, luxury branding and street-culture irreverence. Manelli is particularly known for meticulously painted recreations of historical artworks, which he disrupts with modern cultural references. Thirsty Bstrd’s contribution to this artistic conversation makes This Side Up a cheeky meditation on the way we consume, collect and assign status to images.

Enjoy our picks, below.

Lisa Andrews & Antonino Tati