John Waters’ plastic fantastic exhibition opens at Sprüth Magers

Whether you adore or despise his work, John Waters and his trademark pencil moustache are impossible to ignore. For five decades, the 69-year-old Pope of Trash has lampooned the movie industry in all its bogus glamour and glory. Now, the divisive American artist is bringing Hollywood to London in the form of ‘Beverly Hills John’, opening today at Sprüth Magers.

In the main gallery, the artist dons a Jocelyn Wildenstein-esque persona in the show’s namesake work, sporting gravity-defying cheeks, comically monstrous lips, and eyebrows that reach far too high up an impossibly flawless forehead. Justin Bieber and Hollywood’s leading pooch, Lassie, undergo the knife - or Photoshop’s Liquify tool in this case - receiving similarly grotesque makeovers.

Nearby, Princess Diana is flanked by the likes of divas Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse in ‘Shoulda!’ and another recent work depicts the wildly popular, former American president John F Kennedy and his wife, Jaqueline Onassis, descending from Air Force One. Death, however, looms large as the Grim Reaper from Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 drama-fantasy film The Seventh Seal casts a sinister pall over the presidential couple.

Waters isn’t without nostalgia, as evidenced in a surprisingly touching tribute to Federico Fellini in the form of an eight-and-a-half foot recreation of a ruler he has kept since Fellini’s film by the same name first screened in Baltimore. (‘Movies used to matter,’ he says).

Other highlights include his ‘Library Science 1-10’ series, in which Waters juxtaposes highbrow literature titles with their pornographic counterparts (it doesn’t get better than Clitty Clitty Bang Bang, he explains), and ‘Cancel Ansel’, where various Ansel Adams images are corrupted by humourous anomalies.

Even his own work isn’t safe from parody: his cult 1972 film Pink Flamingos goes from X-rated to G-rated in a new, 74-minute video, Kiddie Flamingos (2015); here, Waters has re-imagined the original as a table reading with an all-kid cast (Babs Johnson’s mini-me is particularly endearing in the remake).

But it’s all in affectionate jest. Waters injects his subjects with a dose of authenticity they so sorely lack behind their glossy veneers and artificial charm – something even the finest plastic surgeons in showbiz have failed to do.

His photographic work (since 1995) has taken on politically charged topics of 'cinematic correctness', religious lunacy, and media manipulation. 

'Beverly Hills John', 2012. The artist dons a Jocelyn Wildenstein-esque persona in the show’s namesake work, sporting gravity-defying cheeks and comically monstrous lips. 

'Reconstructed Lassie', 2012. Hollywood’s leading pooch, Lassie, undergoes the knife - or Photoshop’s Liquify tool in this case - receiving a similarly grotesque makeover. 

Other works in the exhibition speak to Waters’ concerns about the contemporary art world. 

'Congratulations', 2014, riffs on the red dot stickers once commonly used in galleries to indicate a sale. 

Waters pays tribute to Federico Fellini in the form of an eight-and-a-half foot recreation of a ruler he has kept since Fellini’s film by the same name first screened in Baltimore. In ‘Cancel Ansel’ (right),  various Ansel Adams images are corrupted by bizarre anomalies. 

Other highlights include his ‘Library Science 1-10’ series, in which Water juxtaposes highbrow literature titles with their pornographic counterparts (it doesn’t get better than Clitty Clitty Bang Bang, he explains).

The Maryland-based artist has been lampooning the movie industry for five decades. . 

Installation view of 'Beverly Hills John'. From left: ‘Library Science 1-10’, 2014; 'Bill's Stroller', 2014; 'Beverly Hills John', 2012; 'Reconstructed Lassie', 2012 

'Grim Reaper', 2014, depicts the former American president John F Kennedy and his wife, Jaqueline Onassis, descending from Air Force One, while the Grim Reaper from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal casts a sinister pall over the presidential couple. 

Princess Diana is flanked by the likes of Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse in ‘Shoulda!’, 2014. © John Waters.

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