French designer David Redon created this series of retro posters, entitled Ads Libitum, which seem to have come straight out of the mid-1900s. However, upon closer inspection, viewers will notice a few details that don’t quite belong with the rest of the scene. Redon features the faces of many contemporary musicians, including Beyonce, Daft Punk, and Pharrell, to transform the vintage posters into playfully modern concepts.
Rosie the Riveter has been replaced by Kanye West, and Daft Punk stands around a roulette table in an advertisement for Las Vegas. Redon perfectly blends each subject into the scenes without changing the style of the original art, so it sometimes requires a bit of searching to identify exactly which elements are vintage and which elements are more modern. However, overall, the fresh, clean print advertisements maintain a certain functionality that is both surprising and hilarious.
“I like the shift between vintage and modern pop culture, because these days the border between art and commercial is very small, and artists work their images like brands do,” explains Redon. “I started working on this project last summer, but it started to buzz maybe two months ago. It takes me one or two hours to create an ad. I search for the ads I like and then retouch in the artists and sometimes modify the layout, create a logo, etc.”
