Darth Vader became the face of interstellar evil as the ultimate villain of the Star Wars universe. Now his infamous helmet has been modded by 100 artists, serving as a blank slate for interpretations that turn the Sith Lord into a clown, a rat fink, the Statue of Liberty, a psychedelic creature and even his real-world kindred spirit, Dick Cheney.

The wild mods, which are part of The Vader Project, go on sale Saturday at Freeman’s Auction House in Philadelphia.

“ Star Wars is something we all relate to, understand and grew up with,” Dov Kelemer and Sarah Jo Marks, owners of DKE Toys and producers and curators of The Vader Project, told Wired.com in an e-mail. “Darth Vader is not only an essential pop-culture icon, but also the all-time most evil movie villain. Using the helmet as a 3-D canvas allowed for playing with or against Darth Vader’s inherent themes.”

The goal? To show off Vader’s thematic and artistic diversity, and deliver lightsaber shine to some of the Jedis of the art world. And to get the artists paid, mostly starting at bids of $1,500. “People hear the word auction and think it’s for charity,” said Kelemer and Marks. “If artists being paid for their work is considered charity, then that’s what this is. In our culture, art is pushed aside when it comes to funds.”

Bidding for Freeman’s auction kicks off Saturday at noon Eastern online and in Philadelphia. Serious Star Wars and art geeks can watch it live online, or pick up a copy of The Vader Project’s eye-popping catalog. We rounded up some of the best Vader Project selections below, from distinctive artists including Winston Smith, Peter Kuper and rockers The Melvins.

Praise the Lord by Plasticgod (Above)

Doug Murphy, aka Plasticgod, has notably deconstructed celebrity and pop culture before. But his Darth Vader is a thematic mash of precious metals, spiked nightmares and Anakin Skywalker’s blinding hubris. No wonder Anakin couldn’t see that his inevitably bright future was darker than deep space. He was too hypnotized by Palpatine’s bling.

Darth Fink by David S. Krys

David S. Krys’ DSK Designs specializes in the same kind of car-pop culture and Americana bleed that helped make George Lucas’ American Graffiti a warm, fuzzy blockbuster. Without which, one should note, the director might not have been able to make Star Wars at all.

Krys’ vision of Vader is a dirty, deliberate homage to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Rat Fink, which itself was a deliberate perversion of Mickey Mouse that helped popularize the hot-rod antiheroics of the ’50s and ’60s. We imagine Vader made this face while revving up his TIE Fighter.

Carmen Mirandarth by Girls Drawin Girls

Speaking of delightful perversions, this acrylic pink Vader noggin, resplendent with fake fruit, is a crack-up, and a clever way to filter out the Sith Lord’s feminine side. Bonus points for the little birdies hiding in his fruit basket. It’s a great fuck-you to the fanboys.

No wonder: Girls Drawin Girls was founded by The Simpsons artists Melody Severns and Anne Walker to break through art and animation’s masculine ceiling.

Everything and Nothing by The Melvins

One of Wired.com’s favorite ferocious headbanger bands, The Melvins, or just Melvins for the purists, has been bleeding eardrums dry since the early ’80s. The deafening jesters were variously influenced by Black Flag and Black Sabbath, but have gone on to influence equally towering artists like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Tool.

The Melvins’ dark humor is evident in this spray-painted gold skull, in which the word father is laconically written across Vader’s brow in ornate script. Same goes for the grim, skeletal sun and butterfly that respectively adorn its helmet and neck, as well as the cartoonish dragons locked in an Ouroboros-like struggle.

Spy Vader Spy by Peter Kuper

He co-founded the politically minded World War 3 Illustrated at the end of the ’70s, and has taken over Mad magazine’s storied Spy vs. Spy strip since the end of the ’90s. So it makes sense that illustrator Peter Kuper‘s Vader would draw from both touchstone comics, and deliver the martial art.

Respectively armed with a gun and a bomb, Mad ‘s memorable black-and-white spies chase each other around Vader’s helmet. But unlike other Vader Project productions, Kuper’s villain can remove his helmet and show off the spies battling alongside his head. As usual, no one wins besides the richest bidder.

I Have You Now! by Winston Smith

Darth Vader’s classic line from Star Wars , exclaimed when he thought he was about to blow his own son out of the Death Star, brings to decontextualized life all of Winston Smith‘s surreal collage art. Lifted imagery of satellites, robots and hazmat suits situate Darth Vader’s cyborg villainy in sci-fi’s overall continuum, while allowing him to serve as the canvas by which it is all measured. Unlike many of Vader Project helmets, Smith’s Sith Lord features terrified eyes that speak to the horror of what he’s done and what he’s become.

Meanwhile, the recognizable letters on Vader’s brow are a nod to the Dead Kennedys, whom Winston Smith — born James Patrick Shannon Morey but named for the doomed protagonist of George Orwell’s 1984 — has collaborated with since the ’80s. His dense, dizzying work has also been appropriated by artists like George Carlin, Green Day and Ben Harper.

Join the Happy Side by Yoko D’Holbachie

Those in search of J-popcult horror shows should dig this multicolored bizarro helmet from Japanese artist Yoko D’Holbachie. Like much of her commercial and artistic work, D’Holbachie’s Darth Vader veers between innocent iconography and psychedelic monstrosity.

She’s one of the few artists from The Vader Project to literally think outside Darth’s head: She added cute but splotchy ears, which look nasty. We think.

Full Metal Vader by Eelus

An early discovery of astounding street artist Banksy, Eelus has since exhibited alongside hotshots like Shepard Fairey. His camouflaged Vader helmet is an obvious nod to Stanley Kubrick’s war satire Full Metal Jacket .

Eelus’ Vader helmet says “Born to Kill Jedi Scum,” rather than the film poster’s more general “Born to Kill.” The helmet is strapped with several full-metal jacket bullets, with two tongue-in-cheek additions: a can of Vader gun polish (“Brightening the Dark Side Since a Long Time Ago”) and a picture of Darth with his two Jedi kids, Luke and Leia, vacationing at the beach. Aww, what a sentimental butcher.

Hanus by Jim Koch

Straight outta Spokane, Washington, Jim Koch‘s eponymous design shop has crafted up cool illustrations and installations for straight-edge corporations like Hasbro and Hard Rock Cafe. But his fearsome incarnation of Darth Vader is among The Vader Project’s most arresting skulls.

While other helmets use Vader’s sleek, fearsome design as a point of departure, Koch’s clown gives the Sith Lord a perverted makeover. From its haphazard clothes and fat red nose to its buck teeth and purposefully misspelled name, Hanus is a carnivalesque mess. Which is what Darth Vader really is on the inside. Creepy.

A Disturbance in the Force by Robbie Conal

Los Angeles artist Robbie Conal has been routinely plastering up grotesque guerrilla posters of revered and hated political and cultural figures since the ’80s. His profane art attacks have landed him in the mainstream, from the pages of Time and Newsweek to films like The Insider .

It’s a no-brainer that two of his favorite targets, George Bush and Dick Cheney, would garishly pwn the sides of his Vader helmet. Conal’s art has compared Cheney, who has been equated with Vader for years, to everything from the Energizer Bunny to Big Brother. But this marks the first time he’s actually been able to post up Cheney’s mug on the side of Vader’s skull.

Untitled by T9G

This is easily the most hilarious head in The Vader Project. We’re not sure if Tokyo figure artist T9G is trying to say that the villainous Vader has rudely imprisoned adorable moppet Anakin Skywalker beneath his legendary mask, or if, for all his perceived menace, the Sith Lord is just another toy clogging up the malls. Maybe T9G is simply telling us it takes a youngling to slay a youngling.

Whatever its message, T9G’s untitled goof is a cackle-inducing blast. Juxtaposing the jolly and horrific is always a tough balancing act. But I’ll be honest: If we weren’t mired in a recession, I’d be the first in line to buy this deadly humorous Darth Vader homage.

Thunder Vader by Tristan Eaton and AZK One

Ominously outfitted with a gas mask and emblazoned with a blitzkrieg logo, this arresting Vader iteration from Tristan Eaton’s Thunderdog Studios restores the original terror of the term stormtrooper. Unlike the stark white blaster fodder of the Star Wars universe, Germany’s World War I stormtroopers were literally “shock troops” that would gas and infiltrate enemy pressure points without mercy.

It’s a stark reminder that Star Wars ‘ adult-approved military sci-fi has a bloodier, more visceral precedent. Sure, geeks love it when their kids play with kickass Star Wars toys and watch every episode of The Clone Wars . But how many of us want our kids to become shock troops?

Untitled by Wade Lageose

A handful of Vader Project artists redesigned Vader’s helmet altogether, but visual effects artist Wade Lageose — who has designed logos, posters and DVD menus for Lucasfilm, Walt Disney and other high-profile clientele — decided to house Vader’s thick skull with America’s most recognizable headdress. The fact that he didn’t add a title to the piece says it all.

We know that Darth Vader is as famous, and salable, as the Statue of Liberty. We also know he is a timeless American creation. And if we stretch hard enough, we can admit that he is a beacon of liberty to the universe. After all, Emperor Palpatine sure wasn’t going to throw himself to his own death.

But what the conflation truly means is up to you, which is the beauty of Star Wars , and of art at large. Let us know in the comments section below what you think of this head, or any of the others from The Vader Project. And definitely let us know if you decide to buy one.

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