Kanye's art history?

April 18, 2011 12:31 PM

Can you tell me about Kanye's classical-composite Coachella backdrop?

I'm pretty sure it's a composite (and not a direct copy of any extant sculpture), at least. I can recognize some aspects that I'm pretty sure were taken from the Laocoön group, but what about the rest? My art-historical knowledge pretty much ends at "Their hair looks Hellenistic, and that is a snake."

posted by oinopaponton to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: It's a fragment of Athena and Alcyoneus” frieze from the Altar of Zeus at Pergamum.
posted by lovecricket at 1:56 PM on April 18, 2011

Bingo.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:58 PM on April 18, 2011

Response by poster: Oh, yup - how wrong I was!
posted by oinopaponton at 1:58 PM on April 18, 2011

More interesting: it's an improved image, with a few missing hands and faces added back in. I guess it's less distracting that way.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:36 PM on April 18, 2011

Yeah, I want to know whose face has been added to Athena's body.
posted by Eumachia L F at 3:27 PM on April 18, 2011

Response by poster: Here's a better angle of "Athena's" face. Doesn't look familiar to me (but then I'm obviously no art historian).
posted by oinopaponton at 3:38 PM on April 18, 2011

hey they also put clothing on the figure in the lower left
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2011