From Publishers Weekly
As many teen and tween boys discovered in a famed mid-'70s issue of Dynamite magazine, Farrah Fawcett (then Farrah Fawcett Majors), in addition to being the Charlie's Angels starring actress, is an artist. Edmier was one of those boys, and as he developed into an artist himself, he has incorporated the odd eros of pop celebrity into his work-including a specific investigation of the iconic 1977 poster of Farrah in a red bathing suit. This book chronicles the two artists' collaboration, at Edmier's instigation, over two years beginning in 2000, resulting in several works documented here-most spectacularly two life-size sculptures of Edmier and Fawcett as Pygmalion and his statue. An essay by Zelevansky, curator and department head of modern and contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explains the Pygmalion myth and gives an overview of Edmier and Fawcett's careers, as well as detailing the development of the project, for which both artists modeled. Edmier is shown in sinewy, full-frontal nude, while Fawcett reclines alluringly, but not quite revealingly. There is a particularly fetching shot of Farrah relaxing in a Korn tank top, and a photo of a nude female torso that may or may not be the actress. Readers will feel dared to try to label the undertaking lurid, and despite the essay's attempts to give it weight, the whole finally comes off as little more than an Edmier fetish.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Contemporary artist Keith Edmier has long been exploring the impact of public history on personal memory in his work. The pop icons of his youth-- such as Evel Knievel-- were seminal figures in the developing artist's psyche. Perhaps the most important figure in the artist's pantheon of inspiration is Farrah Fawcett. The object of many teen boys' affections in the 1970s, Fawcett was a particularly resonant figure for Edmier as she herself was an artist, a fact that he discovered in an issue of the teen magazine Dynamite.
In August 2000, after Edmier extended a formal invitation to the actress to join him in making a work of art, Edmier and Fawcett began what would become a two-year collaboration which produced several sculptures (including two large-scale nude sculptures of each other) and numerous photographs and drawings. The results of this extraordinary project are chronicled in this volume.
The essay by Lynn Zelevansky, curator of contemporary and modern art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art where the exhibition of the work debuted, explores other potent artist/muse pairings and how the traditional hierarchy of this kind of undertaking has been eroded by Fawcett's full participation in the project. She also considers how their project engages pop culture, writing: "...[Fawcett] and Edmier have reminded us about the world of images we inhabit, where it can be difficult to tell the real from the imaginary. They have held a magnifying glass to the relationship between fantasy and reality, celebrity and fan, allowing us to understand something about the way that mass culture impacts lives and shapes memory."
In August 2000, after Edmier extended a formal invitation to the actress to join him in making a work of art, Edmier and Fawcett began what would become a two-year collaboration which produced several sculptures (including two large-scale nude sculptures of each other) and numerous photographs and drawings. The results of this extraordinary project are chronicled in this volume.
The essay by Lynn Zelevansky, curator of contemporary and modern art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art where the exhibition of the work debuted, explores other potent artist/muse pairings and how the traditional hierarchy of this kind of undertaking has been eroded by Fawcett's full participation in the project. She also considers how their project engages pop culture, writing: "...[Fawcett] and Edmier have reminded us about the world of images we inhabit, where it can be difficult to tell the real from the imaginary. They have held a magnifying glass to the relationship between fantasy and reality, celebrity and fan, allowing us to understand something about the way that mass culture impacts lives and shapes memory."
