Cult of Celebrity (2005)
This piece was created at CollaboratioNZ 2005 in Whangarei, New Zealand. I found a very tacky, 3-D photographic rendering of The Last Supper mounted in a silver, plastic frame. It was one of those rare treasures often found on the parts table at collaborations. With this picture I saw an opportunity to play around with the idea of 'celebrity'. The Apostles and Jesus received new faces, faces that seem to inundate our culture. These are people whom we tend to 'idolize'and admire: actors, directors, sports figures, comic book heroes, members of a Royal Family, etc. Queen Elizabeth II, Kermit the Frog, Spiderman, David Beckham, Martin Scorcese, Tom Cruise and Russell Crow are among the 'stars' adorning this piece. The fruit and swags of lush greenery represent abundance; the 'friends' cappuccino cups is a statement about the fleeting nature of marriages and other relationships in the world of the celebrity; the cartoon-style drawing of the earth held in the hands of the director, the one who controls all, represents a world that is not real. The crowning touch was the 'halo glow' given to it by the pink neon tubing. Over the 5 days of the collaboration various artists added their unique touches to the piece. The tacky Last Supper clock that I took from the parts table was transformed. We signed it 'Allen Smithy'. To ensure further annonymity the signature was done with cut and pasted letters.Photo: Ellie Smith
on found object, paper, neon
0"h x 0"w ( 0 cm x 0 cm )
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