In this series, Maffia has combined his appreciation of illustration
and of fine art by pairing vintage ads with images from 19th and 20th
century European paintings.”These paintings are a way for me to
incorporate images I love from fine art with the blatant power of
advertising” he says.”I enjoy the contrast between commercial and fine art.”
In “Dutch Cleanser” for example, the familiar girl in wooden shoes
overlays a hidden Vermeer interior. In “Le Chat,” graphic lettering
from a popular French soap ad frames an image of a pubescent girl by Balthus.
Maffia used two physical surfaces to unite these seemingly
incongruous worlds. The converging planes, when fused together
this way, use familiar images to create an ensemble which contains a mischievous element.