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The artistic mind is a curious one. It's always searching for new ways to interpret the world and can find inspiration even in the mundane and unexpected.
And the subreddit r/artmemes embodies that spirit perfectly. A hub for artists, meme enthusiasts, and casual browsers alike, it invites folks to share their takes on the creative process, popular works, and everything else in between.
So we took up the role of a curator and handpicked a collection of its top posts to help you familiarize yourself with this awesome online community. Enjoy!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Peace Is Not An Option Always
Final score:
125points
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#2
A Legend
Final score:
123points
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To learn more about art, memes, and their impact, we contacted art historians Melanie V. Taylor and Dr. Ben Street. Taylor specializes in 16th-century symbolism in European illuminated manuscripts and paintings and believes that memes can have a positive impact on the art world by, for example, sparking deeper conversations about it, but to do so, they need to avoid oversimplifying the subject. "Where art is concerned, they can [...] poke fun at some aspects that the general public has difficulty understanding, such as performance art. Many do not understand that, and find it weird," she told Bored Panda.
#3
He Clearly Did Not
Final score:
121points
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#4
It Do Be Like That
Final score:
117points
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#5
My Charisma
Final score:
117points
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"A meme may spark some interest, inspiring an individual to look deeper into the subject, and then they will find that the cave paintings and various sculptures from as long ago as 40,000 years ago could equally be mistaken for having been created within the last 70 years of post-WW2 expressionist movements," Taylor added. Dr. Ben Street, who is an author, lecturer, and educator based in London, United Kingdom, agrees. "I think memes can definitely have a positive impact on the art world," he told Bored Panda. However, he believes they shouldn't tackle questions surrounding the meaning of art. "No one's going to agree on that and it's not urgent. Instead, they should focus on wider problems in the art industry. There are so many. Memes can draw attention to them."
#6
Meow You Rest In Peace
Final score:
103points
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#7
Every Single Time
Final score:
93points
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#8
Got Em
Final score:
88points
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#9
*checks Microwave To Make Sure It Doesn't Spontaneously Combust*
Final score:
88points
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One of such issues discussed on r/artmemes is the rise of AI in the creative industries. Many community members are concerned that the technologies can overshadow traditional artistry, and create posts about its authenticity, ownership, and the future of human creativity. Their worries are understandable. After all, Los Angeles is even set to introduce the world's first AI art museum. Dubbed Dataland, it is expected to open its doors in 2025, in a new development next to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Broad Museum, and the home of the LA Philharmonic, penetrating the space of the city's most prestigious cultural venues. So r/artmemes does offer a medium for relevant conversations.
#10
I Summon The Great Bob! (Not Mine.)
Final score:
87points
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#11
Strike A Pose
Final score:
84points
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#12
Relatable
Final score:
84points
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#13
Daniel Was Saved Because He Said Pspspsps
Final score:
84points
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Street, the author of How to Enjoy Art: A Guide for Everyone, acknowledges that memes can be a form of art in and of themselves, but questions the necessity of categorizing them as such. Indeed, according to researchers looking at modern forms of communication, they are a language in themselves, with a capacity to transcend cultures and construct collective identities between people.
#14
Simpler Times
Final score:
81points
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#15
Poe Boy
Final score:
79points
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#16
Just Don't
Final score:
77points
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As Paolo Gerbaudo, a reader in digital politics and director of the Centre for Digital Culture at Kings College London told the BBC, these pictures "are one of the clearest manifestations of the fact there is such a thing as digital culture." ADVERTISEMENT Memes are said to tap into collective online consciousness and have been referred to as digital folklore – or "Netlore."
#17
They Gonna Kill Me
Final score:
76points
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#18
Louis Wain's Deteriorating Kaleidoscope Cats Are A Mood
Final score:
76points
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#19
Clear Vision
Final score:
75points
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As John Fisher highlighted, comparisons such as Hamlet versus South Park or Beethoven's Fifth Symphony versus Justin Bieber's "Eenie Meanie" can provoke thoughts about distinctions between "high" and "low" art. And so can memes. But this line of thinking, according to Melanie Taylor, is a very personal one. "Since the advent of photography (an art form in its own right from its beginning in 1839 on both sides of the English Channel) and the spin-offs such as cinema, newsreels, [and] docudramas (so many!), art is no longer a representation of a recognizable individual, place or time in history," she explained. ADVERTISEMENT The context becomes intertwined, and "memes pointing to the content of paintings such as 'The Wreck of the Medusa' (1818-19) by Theodore Gericault would inspire some to look deeper into this history painting."
#20
F In The Chat For My Boy Van Gogh
Final score:
74points
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#21
Relatable
Final score:
72points
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#22
I've Got Stories For Days!
Final score:
71points
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"The Medusa was a French naval frigate wrecked off the coast of Mauritania. 147 made a raft and in the next 13 days before they were rescued, 15 died and the survivors ate them to survive," Taylor continued. "The painting was displayed in the Paris Salon of 1819 to wide acclaim as the wreck had caused a scandal in the French newspapers. Since the papers were the social media of their day, people flocked to see Gericault's painting and it made his name." ADVERTISEMENT Every format serves its own purpose, and as Taylor beautifully illustrated, saying that one is "lower" and therefore less important than the other can be simply unfair.
#23
What Do You Think Of This?
Final score:
71points
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#24
You Weren't Supposed To Do That!
Final score:
69points
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#25
Gorgeous
Final score:
67points
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#26
Was One Of Those Kids
Final score:
66points
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"When it comes to 'low' art, using Gericault's painting as an example, I put myself in his place as an emerging artist of the early 19th century," Taylor said. "In 1819, the painting was a representation of an event brought about by the incompetence of the captain of the ship, so [it] could better be described as a visual journalistic piece rather than the more academic history narrative that it now enjoys." ADVERTISEMENT "This poses a further question: when does some 'low' art become 'high' art? The jury will always be out, especially with the more modern pieces, such as those by the American abstract expressionists [... like] Jack the Dripper — better known as Jackson Pollock — or even Picasso, [...] the Young British artists, such as Tracy Emin, Damien Hurst, and others [... as well as] those hopefuls emerging from the myriad number of art schools across the world; all have their place, and all have to start somewhere." So do memes!
#27
Heavy
Final score:
66points
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#28
I'm Not Used To This
Final score:
65points
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#29
Their Faces Are Hilarious
Final score:
64points
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#30
First Contribution
Final score:
63points
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#31
Drawing Is Hard
Final score:
63points
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#32
The Irony
Final score:
61points
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#33
And Now We Wait
Final score:
59points
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#34
Understandable
Final score:
56points
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#35
Story Of My Life
Final score:
55points
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#36
Guilty
Final score:
53points
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#37
Oh Lucifer!
Final score:
50points
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#38
True
Final score:
49points
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#39
It’s The Cutest Story…
Final score:
45points
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#40
What? That's Outrageous! ... She Should Be On Roller Skates
Final score:
43points
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#41
Happens A Lot
Final score:
24points
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#42
Activist Van Gogh Throwing A Vase With Sunflowers At One Of Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans
Final score:
24points
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#43
He Is Dead
Final score:
23points
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#44
Jerk
Final score:
23points
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#45
Choices Were Made
Final score:
23points
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#46
Who Knows What's Going On Here
Final score:
23points
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#47
Ooooo
Final score:
22points
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#48
'sup, Death
Final score:
22points
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#49
*awkward
Final score:
21points
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#50
Found On R/Mildlyinfuriating
Final score:
21points
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#51
Relatable
Final score:
21points
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#52
And I Oop—
Final score:
20points
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#53
So True Nowadays😂
Final score:
20points
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#54
Final score:
19points
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#55
Yawn
Final score:
19points
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#56
Put Some Respect On My Boi Fendrel
Final score:
19points
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#57
Definitely Will Do It Again
Final score:
19points
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#58
Always
Final score:
19points
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#59
Made This One Just For You
Final score:
18points
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#60
*insert Funny Title Here*
Final score:
18points
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#61
Modern Art = I Could Do That + Yeah, But You Didn’t
Final score:
18points
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#62
Professional Procrastinator
Final score:
17points
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#63
Oh No!
Final score:
17points
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#64
I Swear This Happens Way Too Often
Final score:
17points
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#65
Why'd You Stop (._.)
Final score:
17points
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#66
That's How It Was Done
Final score:
16points
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#67
Who Killed Art?
Final score:
16points
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#68
Mood
Final score:
16points
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#69
Story Of My Life
Final score:
16points
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#70
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beeeeeeep
Final score:
16points
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#71
Well, That's My Night Ruined
Final score:
16points
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#72
Mittens Is Back At It Again
Final score:
16points
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#73
Idk What To Title This
Final score:
15points
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#74
Oops
Final score:
15points
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#75
Tbf The Drawing Is Conceptual Af
Final score:
15points
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#76
Digital Art Meme
Final score:
15points
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#77
Hey, At Least She Tried
Final score:
15points
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#78
Hate It When This Happens
Final score:
14points
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#79
Fart Funny Haha
Final score:
14points
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#80
*panic Waving Intensifies*
Final score:
14points
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#81
I Just Love To Read
Final score:
14points
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#82
We Are Lost Without It
Final score:
14points
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#83
I Kinda Want It In My Living Room Tbh
Final score:
14points
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#84
Vincent Vans Gogh
Final score:
13points
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#85
14 Year Old Males In A Nutshell
Final score:
13points
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#86
Double Standards
Final score:
13points
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#87
Remembers Cringe Memories From Years Ago
Final score:
13points
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#88
I Get It, It’s Hard To Get Going In The Mornings
Final score:
12points
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#89
Say No More!
Final score:
12points
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#90
Immeasurable Disappointment
Final score:
12points
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#91
Vincent Man Gogh
Final score:
12points
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#92
Me When I Really Gotta Get Work Done
Final score:
10points
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#93
It Takes Forever 🙃
Final score:
10points
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#94
I Was Drawing And For Some Reason I Didn't Sketch The Face First Xd
Final score:
10points
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#95
That's Very Nice
Final score:
9points
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#96
Color Theory??
Final score:
8points
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#97
Consoooooom! And Enjoy The Weirdly Disproportionate Bodies Of Corporate "Art"
Final score:
8points
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#98
Yes It Is
Final score:
8points
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#99
I Did Some Weird Shit. Damn, I Like It
Final score:
8points
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#100
Too Many Choices
Final score:
7points
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#101
Am I Strange Or Is This Real ???
Final score:
5points
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