Continuing through December 30, 2012
If part of the task of art is to reflect and describe culture, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin are home free. They do precisely that via gorgeous videos produced for a host of “brands.” There’s genius residing in how they frame images, in the music they choose and how they construct a narrative of sorts. I say “of sorts” because these pieces are short on plot. Fine by me. If I want plot, I’ll read James Joyce’s short stories.
One film, shot for “Vogue Paris,” features an Elvis impersonator and a tacky wedding chapel on the Las Vegas strip. The film is replete with showgirls, a 50s-style motel, a wildly ornate pink bed and one brief, yet dreamy, shot of gorgeously rippling aqua water. “Elvis” and a hot / haute model dance and deliver a chance to see two things Americans worship — cheesy trinkets and glammed-up models. In the current lingo, “It is what it is.” But it’s so precisely what it is that it’s lobbed into a sphere of perfection. It may not be Miro or Giotto, but it’s our shared and appetite driven naked selves. And that’s certainly worth pondering.
