Shot in black and white (in a remarkably unpretentious way) Celebrity tells the story of a Woody stand in, performed by Kenneth Branagh, and the ex wife whom he has recently divorced, a mousy, nervous woman, well played by Judy Davis.
Branagh’s stunning portrayal of even the most sublime Woody mannerisms has been well commented on, and Davis’ character has more than a passing resemblance to Mia Farrow… As I said, nothing new here, no pretense of disguising the film’s roots in the film maker’s real life.
Celebrity, Woody Allen (1998)
Despite it’s sometimes ponderous subject matter, Celebrity is a funny film. Allen has a much underappreciated sense of slapstick, and it’s used to great effect when a professional call girl played by BeBe Nuewirth begins choking on a banana while instructing Judy Davis’ character in the art of fellatio.
This set of prints was the last project Louise Bourgeois completed before her death in May 2010.
Louise Bourgeois started each of the pieces by painting delicate and fluid male and female torsos using red, blue and black gouache pigments with water. These were then passed over to Emin who has drawn smaller figures on or near the torsos and handwritten sentences below to narrate the images. Emin later said: “I carried the images around the world with me from Australia to France, but I was too scared to touch them”.
“Do Not Abandon Me” was an exhibition of collaborative artworks by Louise Bourgeois and Tracy Emin. The sixteen intimate works confronted themes of identity, sexuality and the fear of loss and abandonment.
Motherwell’s greatest goal was to use the staging of his work to convey the mental and physical engagement of the artist with the canvas. Stark black paint was one of the customary elements in his paintings. The paint was often diluted to varying consistencies, adding an illusionary element of shadow and an exceptional depth in field in his work.
TheAbstract Expressionists sought to create essential images that revealed emotional truth and authenticity of feeling. Their interest was in exploring the deeper sense of reality beyond the recognizable image.
In 1940, Robert Motherwell came to New York City and joined a group of artists that would be forever linked to one of paintings most influential movements, Abstract Expressionism. This group included Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline.
