To say twenty-something year old sisters Maria and Beatriz Valdovin are fans of Alexa Chung, is a bit of an understatement. They’re darn right obsessed. Just as they are with memes, art, and, well, meme culture en generale, which is why in 2015, when Beatriz was meant to be studying for a finance exam and randomly came across a photo of Miss A. Chung that reminded her of an artwork she once saw, she had the genius idea of setting up an instagram account dedicated to matching images of Alexa with images from the great historical art canon. “I created a few collages, posted them, tagged Alexa Chung, she followed the account, by picture number four my sister decided to join in, and that’s how it began,” says Beatriz.
Growing up in Zaragoza, the capital of Spain’s Aragon region, María and Beatriz were exposed to the arts from an early age, all thanks to their mum, whose library of art books lay scattered all around the house. Thanks, mum.
“We have been art enthusiasts since we were kids,” says Beatriz. “María studied for an art masters in Rome, but we are mostly self-taught. We find most of our images on the internet, in museums, books, magazines and Alexa chung’s Instagram. Sometimes the inspiration is in the painting. We see a Goya, Magritte, Modigliani, or Bouguereau and then we find a pose, a gesture, a piece of clothing, a hairstyle, or a landscape that reminds us of Alexa’s pictures. Other times, it is the other way around and her photos remind us of art.”
121 posts and 75.7K followers later, and the girls are absolutely killing it. “At the beginning it was a game. The first months were crazy and we found so many similarities. It was so easy, in fact, that in just a few short minutes countless combinations emerged. Lately, the more obvious ones have been done and we’re finding that it’s getting harder and that we need to dedicate more of our time to doing it.”
But besides for killing time, what’s it all about? “We get a big satisfaction from it,” says Beatriz. “It’s so nice that people love our posts, they always leave such lovely comments. We also have the pleasure of Alexa Chung herself being a fan. But more than that, old art is great but a lot of people don’t know about it. What we want is to cement art’s place in the digital era.”
Here they share their top 5 picks.
1. “It’s almost midnight Cinderella Chung!”
2. “A lesson on how to braid your hair.”
3. “Hallelujah! I launched a fashion brand! (celestial chorus).”
4. “Bitch stole my look.”
5. “My cover is better than yours.”