Artist Rob Pruitt is showing as art something I might have featured in a project I tried to get off the ground 5 years ago. Along the same lines, in 2012 I created a prototype for art magazine called THEM, turning artworld figures into celebrities. See cover below...

At this years' Art Basel Unlimited Pruitt is pairing pictures of the art world’s most powerful players with their celebrity look-alikes.

It was started as a project on the artist’s Instagram and is now gathered in a book, called Rob Pruitt’s Official Art World/Celebrity Look-Alikes.

The series also comes with some gallery history: a decade ago, Pruitt’s dealer, Gavin Brown showed art-world photographer and Wowlebrity Patrick McMullan’s society pics.

Brown also shared a booth at Frieze New York a few years back with his own celebrity doppelgänger, Mark Ruffalo, who incidentally contributes a text to Pruitt’s new book. They are buddies.

Pruitt was ruthless with some of these matches but check out his look-alike, he wasn’t kind. Btw, RuPaul‘s look-alike (and vice versa) is handsome artist Mark Bradford.

Here are a few snaps of the series but you can see a lot more on ArtNet News.

Artists Space director Jay Sanders and actor Jason Biggs

Artist Bjarne Melgaard and the Thing from the Fantastic Four

Art collector François Pinault and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Artist Dan Colen and actor Harrison Ford

Art dealer Gavin Brown and actor Mark Ruffalo

The Fondation Beyeler’s Thomas Keller and Mike Myers as Dr. Evil

Artist Urs Fischer and actor Michael Madsen

Damien Hirst and Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo

Artist Alex Katz and Krusty Krab proprietor Squidward Tentacles

Art scion Harry Brant and actress Winona Ryder

Artist Yayoi Kusama and Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element

Art dealer Larry Gagosian and actor Bob Einstein

Artist Marina Abramovic and a brick wall

Artist Rob Pruitt and Bill Hader as “Saturday Night Live”‘s Stefon

(Photos, Rob Pruitt; via ArtNet News)