Da Vinci and his disciples may have been light years ahead of their time, but the low-brow masters of the 21st century are also installing a new meritocratic Renaissance—version 2.009, that is. James Gabrillo and Paolo R. Reyes pin down 16 state-of-the-art specimens that deserve a second look or a good laugh

HYPERREAL ART
Ron Mueck’s Hyperrealistic Figures
What happens when you give a phantasmagorical mind free reign over fiberglass resin? The unsettling, larger-than-life pieces of Ron Mueck. A former puppeteer of Jim Henson (he was the creature designer of David Bowie-starrer Labyrinth), Mueck, now 51, can add “hyperrealist” to his C.V. With its monumental proportions and meticulous details, Mueck’s sculptures of newborn babies and butt-naked octogenarians are alarmingly lifelike—down to the last chest chair or swollen vein. Michelangelo must be rolling in his grave.

LINDEN GLEDHILL’S SOUND WAVE SPLASHES
You wouldn’t want to be Linden Gledhill’s next-door neighbor—not unless you’re deaf. Using high-pulsed sounds from speakers, a high-speed camera (Nikon D200), and water-based neon paint, the biochemist-turned-photographer is able to create freeze-framed portraits of sound-generated splashes. It’s all very Weird Science meets The Matrix, but Gledhill’s fluorescent fibers look like cryogenically-preserved gummy worms with a Pixar-perfect life of their own—however, um, interrupted that life may be.

MCDONALD’S @ LOUVRE
Want a Venus de Milo doll to go with that Le Happy Meal? The hallowed grounds of the Louvre have been tainted by recent news: a McDonald’s outlet will be opening this month at the underground area of the world’s Mecca of high art. Naturally, the news has caused indigestion among the French, who have responded with nothing but 100% concentrated outrage. “This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism and deficient gastronomy,” reported The Telegraph. “Today McDonald’s, tomorrow low-cost clothes shops.”

TATTOOED GOLDFISH
Here’s one pet shop craze that’s bound to get under PETA’s thin skin. Goldfish that are laser-tattooed with auspicious, custom-made Chinese characters are all the rage in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Last September, prices skyrocketed to 100 Yuan ($14) each. They are marketed as lucky charms. Still, animal “branding”—whether on cattle or palm-sized creatures—always smells fishy.

TERRY BORDER’S TWISTED WIRES
Wedged somewhere between the worlds of weird hobbies and high art are Terry Border’s offbeat sculptures of bent wire (bentobjects.blogspot.com). Using pliers, wires, and random household objects, the Fine Art Photography graduate cobbles together three-dimensional wire pieces in the garage of his Indiana home. Last month, he even published a book, The Secret Life of Everyday Things. “You’ll never look at a Cheetos curl the same way again,” wrote one Amazon reviewer.

APPLE IPHONE’S BRUSHES
Imagine finger painting without the mess. The new iPhone application Brushes is propelling mobile phones to a new realm of creativity. Brushes promises a game-changing approach to painting, allowing users to “paint” with their fingers on the touchscreen, producing works that are indistinguishable from acrylics and oils. In fact, a recent cover of The New Yorker was actually a painting created by artist Jorge Colombo using the application.

ANN SMITH’S ANIMATRONIC ROBOTS  
What to do with your discarded electronics? Before dialing your neighborhood recycling center, give Ann Smith (burrowburrow.com) a ring. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (where she was tasked to construct a “Trojan horse of technology”), Smith turns mechanical junk—old computers, cameras, clocks, keyboards, typewriters, phones, and printers—into animatronic objets d’ art. Her mechanical menagerie has been featured in a Chevron ad, Architectural Digest, and Discovery Channel. As of late, she’s taken her technozoology to a whole new level: stop-motion animation. Suddenly, her telephone wire-tailed T-Rex doesn’t seem so cute.

WIISPRAY
Here’s a cool way to channel your inner, illegal Banksy and evade the long arm of the law, too. Bauhaus University student Martin Lihs has developed WiiSpray (wiispray.com), a Nintendo Wii-enabled software and hardware system that accurately simulates spray paint. The spray-can controller even has pressure-sensitive valves and comes with 128 interchangeable nozzles. No surprise it picked up a 2009 iF Design Award. Time to invest in an 80-inch projector screen? Think about it—vandalizing the not-so-flat surface of your 24-inch TV would be just lame.

MUSEUM PLAGIARIUS  
When Pablo Picasso declared, “Good artists copy; great artists steal,” he probably underestimated just how “good” copycats would be in the 21st century. Case in point: their plagiarized pièces de résistance are now humorously glorified at the new Museum Plagiarius (plagiarius.com) in Solingen, Germany. On exhibit are over 300 original products—from fashion accessories to household appliances—side-by-side with their inferior knock-offs. Safe to say their creators won’t be cutting the ribbon anytime  soon.

THE WHITE HOUSE’S PO-MO MASTERPIECES
There’s an artistic revolution underway at the White House. The Obamas have spruced up the walls of their new home with daring, postmodern artworks—a first for the 217-year-old residence. The pieces consist of bizarre shapes, loopy lines, and bold colors—painted by bad boy visionaries Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, and a slew of African-American artists. One of the most talked about is Edward Ruscha’s “I Think I’ll,” which superimposes phrases such as “I think I’ll . . .” and “maybe . . . no” on top of a bloody red  sunset.

DNA PORTRAITS
Straight out of a Gattaca storyboard comes DNA 11 (dna11.com), a Canadian custom-print company that photographs human DNA and transforms them into frame-worthy portraits of your “inner beauty.” How does it work? Collect a cheek cell swab, mail them the sample, customize your style (color, effect, size, and frame), and—five weeks later—they’ll FedEx it straight to your living room in crush-proof packaging. The average price for this deeply personal art: $500. The glint in your date Uma’s eye when she steals a glance at your most flattering genetic features:  priceless.

MARK JENKINS’S SCOTCH TAPE SCULPTURES
Call it a sticky situation. Using the streets as his canvas, 3D artist Mark Jenkins (xmarkjenkinsx.com) has been creating absurdist sculptures made entirely of scotch tape. It began during a teaching stint in Brazil. Bored between classes, he decided to wrap every single object in his apartment—pots, pans, and what-not—until there was only one thing left: Himself. Since then, he has cast everything from Honda Civics, giant toy giraffes, over 60 “tape men,” and a pack of animals—ducks, horses, dogs, pigeons—that could easily fill Noah’s floating ark. Now there’s a ferry that surely won’t sink.

BLACK PENCIL PROJECT
They are artfully elevating the phrase “start ‘em young.” An art director, procurement manager, and development engineer have joined forces to inspire less fortunate kids through an alternative, albeit straightforward, approach. The Black Pencil Project (blackpencilproject.org) is committed to provide black jumbo pencils and conduct art workshops for young children from far-flung villages like those in Banaue, Ifugao. The simple project hopes that amid the children’s destitute surroundings, they’ll learn to harness their young creative spirit.

MARVEL-DISNEY MERGER
A $4 billion star-studded deal has united the Mickey Mouse Club with 5,000 of Marvel Entertainment’s characters—throwing in the elements of edge and violence into the Walt Disney roster of stars that include the Little Mermaid and Hannah Montana. Disney/Marvel mash-ups have already appeared all over the web, showing Bambi as X-Men’s newest character and Donald Duck sporting Wolverine’s claws, among others. The big caveat? Disney is actually blocked from touching Marvel’s most famed characters, so the geeks need not worry.

T-POST
A skillful band of Swedish artists are translating the globe’s daily headlines into graphic interpretations. Their canvas of choice: T-shirts. Online magazine T-post (t-post.se) has thousands of subscribers in more than 50 countries, all of whom receive a new t-shirt every six weeks. Thanks to creative technology, T-post allows today’s generation to use graphic art to express their awareness on everyday issues. Talk about wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve.

THE ARTORIALUST
Think of him as a skirt-chasing, chardonnay-sipping, Mona Lisa-loving version of The Sartorialist. So who, pray tell, are the paparazzo-friendly victims of The Artorialust (artorialust.com)? “HOT CHICKS AT ART OPENINGS!” reads the landing page of the New York-based photo blog. Ogling options are aplenty, and well-edited: stray male faces—be it their boyfriend or gay BFF—are completely covered with black smileys.