Soggettiva Gallery presents from 2 October (until 3 November) “Crazy About Cinema – Folie a Ciné”, tribute to the most famous “brothels” in the history of cinema, coinciding with the release at the cinema of “Joker – Folie à Deux” The second and most anticipated chapter of the saga directed by Todd Philips and played by the Istrions Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. The exhibition retraces some of the “crazy” characters that have most impressed lovers of the seventh art: figures feared or not accepted by society, thanks to their status as marginalised, are able to reflect the deformations of those who consider themselves “normal”.
The exhibition explores the most intriguing and unusual nuances of the human mind through eccentric characters, weird, odd, unbalanced, a little bit “crazy” in short, each in its own way “special”. From the madness that comes from social isolation we move to that which can cause the human psyche to split; from the imbalance of folk horror cinema to that typical of dream and hallucination; the madness that borders on the obsession with love to the one not so different from the infatuation that serial killers feel for their victims; the irrationality that cinema highlights in contemporary society to that which distinguishes our fear of evil; from the delusion that the thirst for revenge can instill in the human mind to that of instability that can be caused by a distorted perception of ourselves and the reality around us.
FOLIE À CINÉ
From 2 October Soggettiva Gallery presents the exhibition “Pazzi di Cinema – Folie à Ciné”, a selection of Alternative Movie Posters dedicated to the most complex, disturbed and fascinating characters ever conceived by the seventh art, in conjunction with the release of the awaited “Joker – Folie à Deux” Directed by Todd Philips who will see duets Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. The works, by international artists, propose a reflection on the crazy and brothel figures that cinema has told.
In exhibition characters who, marginalized by society, are forced to react by extreme and, in many ways, crazy gestures. First of all Joker. Oregon designer Dakota Randall dedicates three dazzling portraits to three great actors who have played the role of Batman’s antagonist: Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix. And the unforgettable Joker by Heath Ledger is at the center of the works of Anthony Jensen and Vance Kelly – who have captured the disarming unpredictability of the character – while Christopher Conner represents the eerie cheerfulness embodied by Joaquin Phoenix. The exhibition includes other “apart” figures such as the distressing Norman Bates of Psycho, the “threatening” Edward Scissorhands and the destabilizing Jack Nance of Eraserhead.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING + FOLK LOVERS
In some cases, reality puts the psyche of the characters to such a test that it leads to a split or, in other cases, to the superposition of two separate personalities into an unseparable unicum: they belong to the first set, Among others, Twin Peaks and three extraordinary classics such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Shining and Blue Velvet; The second category includes Persona, made unique by the symbiotic relationship between the disturbing Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann.
The folk settings characterize the films of a cult director like Robert Eggers: to his movies The Witch and The Lighthouse reference are the prints, respectively, of the Californian visual artist Carrie Anne Hudson, who plays with the demonic imagery of the film, and the French artist Fredlobo Lopez, who creates a hyper-realistic portrait of Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. On the other hand, two feature films from northern European settings such as Lamb and Midsommar, which were inspired by the American graphic designer Maxwell Joseph Hargreaves and Garbhan Grant.
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS
Another theme addressed by the selected Alternative Movie Posters is that of the dream: revolutionaries the animated film Paprika, reinterpreted in a dreamlike way by Vincent Aseo, and Inception, by Javier Vera Lainez, with a quadrilogia of works inspired by the faces and key objects of Christopher Nolan’s film. A further collective hallucination like Fight Club is the starting point of two scratchy performances such as those by Raj Khatri and Adam Rabalais. Not less the visions induced by the drugs taken by Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, at the base of the work made by Ricardo Diseño, or the paranormal atmospheres of De Palma in The Fury, in the illustration of Chris Malbon; or the hallucinations of Naked Meal that are found in the manifesto that Nick Charge dedicates to the film by David Cronenberg.
Between desire and obsession the posters inspired by films where love and ambition take disturbing traits: among the works the Drive, which Javier Maria Lainez reproposes the figure of Ryan Gosling with a hammer, symbol of the protective and violent love he embodies, and Memento, whose inextricable circle of suffering is perfectly synthesized by Adam Rabalais with the representation of arms tattooing each other. Finally, the attraction that the deformed musician of the classic The Phantom of the Opera feels for a young lyric singer gives life to the fantastical opera by the Balbusso Twins.
THE SOCIAL KILLER
It is difficult to determine which (ir)rational principles can govern the deviant mind of a serial killer: the works on display represent some of the most frightening individuals ever appeared in a film, able to start prolific cinematic sagas: Friday the 13th and Halloween, from which Matt Ritchie takes inspiration for two deadly as fascinating illustrations. We can not mention the most iconic and terrifying of the killers, Hannibal Lecter by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs: to him, the fearsome Buffalo Bill and the combtututa agent Clarice Sterling (Jodie Foster) are inspired by the baffling works of Shelby Hohl, Yvan Quinet and Greg Ruth.
There is no shortage of Alternative Movie Posters of films halfway between dystopia and social criticism, in which the traumatic events depicted mirror a deeply sick society: It includes films like A Clockwork Orange – the devastating destructive charge of the drug Alex DeLarge is concentrated in a small but refined print by Max Dalton -, The Truman Show – the petty TV performance of which the unsuspecting Jim Carrey is a victim is translated by Josh Seth Blake in a work full of irony – and Get Out, criticism of racism inherent in American society that is reproposed in the intense creation of Garbhan Grant.
VENGEANCE OF THE THIRD KIND
Crossing the boundaries of the real and entering the territories of the extra-sensory, are essential some works that re-imagine the evil according to the different personifications accomplished by the seventh art: from the more diabolical ones typical of The Exorcist – in whose dark imaginary invites us to enter the poster by Rich Davies – and Suspiria – to which the kaleidoscope work by Adam Juresko is based – to the more experimental ones evoked by Frankenstein and, In a much more ironic way, from Frankenstein Jr., which inspired Chris Walker and Conor Langton respectively.
Revenge, one of the most insane and at the same time most human feelings ever depicted on the big screen. Among the revenge movies on display, a cult as Kill Bill – protagonist of the creation of Craig Drake an unstoppable Uma Thurman armed with katana and an action film milestone as Oldboy, replayed in a thrilling clash of hammer and dagger by Dan Mumford.
AGAIN AND AGAIN
Finally, a series of characters out of the box: from the Drugo of The Big Lebowski – immortalized by Malone in a quote from the dreamlike bowling alley scene in space – to Uma Thurman as the “ballata” Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, shot by Adam Juresko; from Tim Burton’s dark Wednesday, reviewed by the Duke Duel poster, to the melancholic Margot in The Royal Tenenbaums, to which Shannon Bonnatakis devotes a poignant close-up. Up to the stoned Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, to whom Matthew Rabalais dedicates an ironic portrait.
All the works on display are for sale.
INFO
SOGGETTIVA GALLERY
Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano
3357722437 – 3458463222 – 3342378116
Opening hours:
Monday: 15.45 – 19.45
Tuesday to Friday: 10 – 13.30 / 15.45 – 19.45
Saturday and Sunday: 10.30 – 13.30 / 15.45 – 19.45
