You might have heard that there’s a new Star Wars flick doing the rounds. I’ll spare you the puns, in-jokes, and forum-fan-boy nerdings; predominantly as I know very little about the franchise (besides that calling it a ‘franchise’ will likely rub some of the aforementioned Reddit-dwellers up the wrong way).

So what’s this all about, then? Parisian art photography specialists galerie SAKURA have rounded up a troupe of artists who’ve put familiar faces from the Galactic Empire into their work — largely at comedic expense.

One gripe that I’ve always had about sci-fi is its lack of grounding in reality (I’m well aware of the paradoxical nature of that argument), a concern that a number of the artists involved in L’expo Contre-Attaque do well to address — Darth reexamining his parental skills on the dunny; Stormtroopers as an inspiration for Renaissance art; and let’s not get started on poor old R2-D2. The years haven’t been kind. Aside from photographers rewriting history, street artists like Kashink and JOHANNE8 join the fray — as do sculptors Alexandre Nicolas and Alben and illustrators including Lewis Forde.

L’expo Contre-Attaque pits good against evil at galerie SAKURA, Paris, until 15 January.

@galerie_sakura

© Ian Pool. Courtesy, galerie SAKURA

© Daniel Picard. Courtesy, galerie SAKURA