6/10/2013
James Franco / Alfred Wertheimer
Colette, Paris
The Animals. Franco's paintings, photographs and video. Each medium acts as documentation or ephemera of performances he composed, which involved a group of individuals wearing animal-type costumes. Wertheimer took nearly 3,000 photos of Elvis capturing a young man in the process of shaping the history of music.
James Franco
The Animals
James Franco’s exhibition, titled The Animals, brings together paintings, photographs, and video. Each medium acts as documentation or ephemera of performances he composed, which involved a group of individuals wearing animal-type costumes. The “animals” represented androgynous figures and wore Venetian masks, lending the characters a carnival-like appearance. These sexless beings capture something essential and childlike – creatures communicating through behavior rather than speech.
Engaging in a variety of physical activities, such as dance and dodge ball, they used these actions as modes of non-verbal interaction. The “animals,” covered with wet paint during these improvisational activities, left gestural traces of their movements behind. They performed on top of canvasses printed with images from earlier enactments, which resulted in work stacked with multiple layers of information.
The performances, videos, paintings, and photographs all come together in layer after layer of media, fusing the different disciplines and approaches. No layer dominates – they fold into each other, repeatedly. With each coat and action, chaos and order visually ebb and flow, as every element adds to the narrative.
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Alfred Wertheimer
“Elvis who?” This is what the photographer Alfred Wertheimer said when, in early 1956, an agent at RCA asked him to take the portrait of the budding crooner from Memphis. Wertheimer had no idea that he had just won the contract of his career: at just 21 years old, Elvis Presley was about to become the legend we know today. Wertheimerhad carte blanche to follow him like a shadow and Elvis was very open. That year, Wertheimer took nearly 3,000 photos of the singer, capturing a young man in the process of shaping the history of music.
Colette
213, rue Saint-Honore' - Paris