Robert Wilson’s macabre video portraits of Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is hanging upside down naked while a rope cuts into her skin, bending her left leg, pinning her arms behind her back and deforming her breasts. This video, by the experimental artist/director - and former Wallpaper* guest editor - Robert Wilson, shows the pop star's painful-looking initiation into the art of Japanese rope bondage. And it serves as the 'making of' for a performance-art video called Flying. The video, along with Wilson's new video portraits of Gaga, is currently on show at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris, run by Wallpaper* Design Awards 2014 judge Thaddaeus Ropac.
The collaboration began after Wilson received a phone call from the singer, saying she'd like to discuss projects they might work on together. He subsequently designed the set for her 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance. And he suggested that she pose for his series of video portraits, also featuring celebrities like Brad Pitt and Winona Ryder.
Knowing he had an upcoming stint as guest curator at the Louvre, Wilson chose themes from the museum's collection, all dealing with death. 'She's sort of serious,' he explained, 'not your ordinary pop star.' They shot the videos in a London studio over three days, Gaga standing for 14 or 15 hours at a time (when she wasn't trussed like a chicken), blowing away the director with her stamina and emotional intelligence.
One subject he selected was Andrea Solario's 16th-century 'Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Charger'. He filmed 11 views of the singer's bearded face and superimposed them over the painted head of the martyr. 'She would look at the image and after a while she would look at her face in a mirror and something happened, and I would shoot her,' he said. Each portrait is unique - thanks to the size of the slash at her throat, her lips being parted or closed, her eyelids fluttering or her expression changing.
A larger-format video references Ingres' 'Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière', the portrait of a 15-year-old girl who passed away soon after the completion. Gaga managed to capture both the maiden's dignified beauty and the knowledge that she was about to die. 'There's a nobility to her,' Wilson said of the Born This Way singer, 'she's a real princess.'
Watch the video portrait 'Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière d'après Jean-Ausgust-Dominique Ingres' (2013) to see Gaga capture the maiden's dignified beauty. As with all of Wilson's portraits, movements are extremely subtle. Gaga is almost completely still... until she shuts her eyes just before a minute in. Watch Carefully. Copyright RW Work Ltd. Courtesy of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris-Salzburg
ADDRESS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
7 rue de Belleyme
75003 Paris
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe
‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Mallorca’s ‘chocolate hotel’ celebrates six decades of Mediterranean panache
Sixty years after it opened, Hotel de Mar remains a celebrated example of Mediterranean vernacular architecture
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Cadillac extends its EV portfolio with the new Vistiq, a luxury three-row SUV
If you absolutely have to drive an SUV, the launch of the Cadillac Vistiq means the marque now offers a full suite of electric options
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
A’strict: the South Korean digital art collective bringing nature to urban life
As part of our Generation Generative series, we spotlight a’strict, the artistic unit of South Korean digital media design company d’strict, whose immersive art aims to bring viewers closer to nature
By SuhYoung Yun Published
-
Vanessa Beecroft’s ethereal performance and sculpture exhibition explore Sicily’s cultural history
At the historic Palazzo Abatellis, Sicily, Vanessa Beecroft has unveiled ‘VB94’, a new tableau vivant comprising a one-time performance and a new series of sculptures, the latter on view until 8 January
By Hili Perlson Published
-
Bruce Nauman’s Venice mega-show is a full body experience
Focusing on the American artist's performative 'Contrapposto Studies', Bruce Nauman's show at Punta della Dogana, Venice, gives new meaning to body language – on view until 27 November 2022
By Laura May Todd Published
-
Subversive artist Cosey Fanni Tutti on individuality and annihilating limitations
Following the launch of her new book Re-Sisters, we speak to Cosey Fanni Tutti about conquering fear through action, stepping into the unknown, and the secret to making art that matters
By Mary Cleary Last updated
-
Can the Marina Abramović Method change your life?
Lady Gaga and Jay-Z are among those who have followed the Abramović Method to reach higher creative consciousness. Now, the artist’s iconic approach has been translated into a series of instruction cards for all. If you don’t try, you’ll never know
By Harriet Lloyd Smith Last updated
-
Ragnar Kjartansson’s dramatic soap opera inaugurates GES-2 in Moscow
Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson inaugurates the much-anticipated V-A-C Foundation’s GES-2 House of Culture in Moscow. Santa Barbara – A Living Sculpture is a bold, theatrical work that examines the relationship between Russia and the US
By Amah-Rose Abrams Last updated
-
‘Image as virus’: World AIDS Day 2021 marked with powerful new public film
To mark World AIDS Day, (1 December 2021), and 40 years since the disease was first recorded, Circa will present VideoVirus, a compelling new film by AA Bronson and General Idea screened on public billboards in London, Seoul and Tokyo
By Harriet Lloyd Smith Last updated
-
Meet emerging artists from Oppo Renovators 2021 Project
Technology innovator Oppo announces the winners of its Renovators 2021 emerging artists project and says, ‘Everyone can be, and is, an artist’
By Simon Mills Last updated