Artist Masterfully Merges Classical Art and Scenes of Urban Life

At first glance, contemporary urban life may seem incongruous with classical art. How can scenes pulled from Greek mythology possibly interact with those of a morning commute on the subway? For Ukrainian artist Alexey Kondakov, it turns out that these time periods are actually quite compatible. The bridge between them, he’s found, is digital collage.

Kondakov has long merged classical art with urban landscapes, creating surreal compositions that are sometimes surprising, other times humorous, but always charming. A recurring theme for the Kyiv-based artist is public transportation, where mythological beings like Mars, Venus, and Psyche are plunged into bustling buses and subways. With Kondakov’s watchful eye and careful hand, these figures never seem out of place, seamlessly blending in and complementing their surroundings. It’s exactly this sense of cohesion that refreshes both the classical and contemporary settings alike.

One of Kondakov’s collages, for instance, repurposes Paul Peel’s The Little Shepherdess from 1892. In Peel’s original painting, the shepherdess is perched on a rock by a river, her foot gently grazing the surface of the water as she peeks at her reflection. This specific pose lends itself to countless possibilities, and Kondakov cleverly exploits it in his modern collage. In Kondakov’s reimagining, the shepherdess sits on a yellow scooter, peering down to the sidewalk as if preparing to jet off through the city. The composition is playful, but it’s also indicative of Kondakov’s sensitivity toward his source material. He was expertly able to transport a girl from the 19th century to our world today, her presence upon the scooter as natural as the urban landscape behind her.

Another collage combines an image of a subway interior and William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s Song of the Angels. Here, the Virgin Mary rests on a subway seat, clutching a baby Jesus in her arms, as three angels serenade her from above. This collage is one of Kondakov’s most popular, and for good reason: the scene is warm, almost nostalgic, with its dim lighting, which in and of itself is also reminiscent of classical compositions and techniques.

“This piece became one of the most iconic and recognizable in my oeuvre,” Kondakov wrote of the collage. “It drew far more attention than I was prepared for and to this day, as Christmas approaches, I receive requests from all over the world—from churches and parishes—asking to use it as a holiday card.”

Kondakov doesn’t just limit himself to public transportation, and instead embraces every aspect of urban lifestyles. Some collages showcase women walking dogs down the street, vending machines buzzing behind them. Others are more lively, with one depicting Eros, Psyche, and an angel preparing for a dinner party in an apartment kitchen.

To discover more of his work, follow Alexey Kondakov on Instagram.