James Franco Recreates Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled Film Stills’ Series

James Franco, actor turned artist, has unveiled his latest exhibit titled, ‘New York Film Stills’ at Pace in New York, reports artlyst.com. This new exhibit of Franco’s is following a successful showing of his painting at the Gagosian Gallery.

Franco, 36, is thought to be a leading actor for his generation. Acting, however, is not his only skill. Franco is also known for being a writer and visual artist. Franco has produced a body of video works, multimedia installations, and large-scale sculptures. His conceptual artworks range across media including painting, drawing, film, sculpture, installation and photography.

Franco’s latest exhibit features a series of gelatin silver print photographs made in 2013. The photographs range in size from 40-by-30 inch to 8-by-10 inch. The exhibit, ‘New York Film Stills,’ is meant to be a recreation of Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled Film Stills.’

In the photographs, Franco has positioned his body in the same poses, attire and scenarios as are in Sherman’s stills from almost thirty years ago.

According to Gallerist, Sherman had this to say when asked about her thoughts on Franco’s recreation of her work, “I was flattered, I can only be flattered,” she said with a slight sigh. “I don’t know that I can say it’s art, but I think it’s weirder that Pace would show them than that he would make them.”

However, Sherman thought that Franco’s recent spoof of Kanye West’s “Bound 2” music video, in which he played Yeezy and Seth Rogen acted as Kim Kardashian, was “hysterical.”

Franco had this to say about his ‘New York Film Stills’ exhibit, “Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills broke new ground in so many ways: they can be read as critique of portrayals of women in film, a critique that goes hand in hand with the work of critic Laura Mulvey; they can be read as performances; as photographs; as examinations of types; they are both humorous and earnest. Cindy is an artist who used cinema as a source for her work; she ‘played’ at being an actress. I am an actor who inserts himself into his work. Where Cindy used cinema as a starting place, I use art as a starting place. She, like so many of my favorite artists (Douglas Gordon, Richard Prince, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, Paul McCarthy) uses cinema in her work, but she comes at it from a position outside of Hollywood. I am fully embedded in Hollywood, but these photos allow me to take a step to the side, look back, and refashion the work I do in Hollywood. I am at the same time actor, critic, artist, and character.”

Pace in New York is not the only gallery in which Franco’s artwork can be found. For instance, Pace in London debuted Franco’s multi-media installations ‘Psycho Nacirema,’ which was presented by Douglas Gordon, a Scottish artist. Franco’s art has also been shown in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Franco holds MFAs from Brooklyn College, Columbia University, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Rhode Island School of Design and Warren Wilson College and is currently a PhD candidate at Yale University. Franco has taught a various institutions including Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California and California Institute of the Arts.

James Franco currently lives and works on his many projects in both New York and Los Angeles.

[Image Via Google]