Have you ever pretended to be someone else? Is there a difference between fictional characters and historical figures lost to time? This week we’re looking at videos of artists who create memorable characters in their work, often by adapting existing personae—be they well known, obscure, or anonymous.
Artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno purchased a Japanese Manga character and, through some legal wizardy, returned the copyright to the character itself. (via Art21)
Joshua Mosley imagines an imaginary conversation between the philosophers Jean Jacques Rousseau and Blaise Pascal on the subject of nature and faith. (via MCASD)
Catherine Sullivan and Sean Griffin (introduced by fellow Art21 alumn Barbara Kruger) have a conversation about Sullivan’s anxiety-inducing recent work Triangle of Need set in James Deering’s faux-historic Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Florida. (via Hammer)
Too much of a woman? Eleanor Antin employs two actresses—one blond and one brunette—to play Helen of Troy in a series of photographic scenes. (via Art21)
Continuing our tour of ancient Greece, filmmaker Eve Sussman talks about the process of producing The Rape of the Sabine Women. (via IMA)
“Why are they a clown?” wonders Cindy Sherman, investigating the dark side of family entertainment. (via Art21)
Not dark enough? Try the work of Melanie Pullen, Marci Washington, and Tara Tucker who explore murder, cannibalism, war, and conflict in their works. (via KQED)
