"I capture things that arouse thoughts and feelings within myself, and through my filters, I bring it back to the world as a drawing. It is my hope that this series will encourage us to reflect upon our leaders, our society, and ourselves. And failing that, Hipstory will at least make us smile." -Amit Shimoni

Amit Shimoni is an Israeli artist, graduate of the Be'zalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. The idea for the project came to Shimoni after he’d been surfing through endless Google images of world leaders, seeing the same boring portraits over and over. As a counterpoint to the bland images, he decided to channel his creativity and “hipsterize” everyone from the prime minister of Norway to Barack Obama. The goal? To “connect Generation Y to the political and cultural visionaries of the past,” according to the illustrator.

Although the project began with images of political figures, Shimoni has now expanded his portfolio to include new paintings of art stars, such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Warhol.