Art or kitsch? Who cares as long as it’s fun? That
was the prevailing sentiment at the opening of MADELEINE
FARLEY’s show, “Movie-Tips,” at Miauhaus
Gallery. The perky British artist has forged new ground
with her photo blowups of classic movie moments, reconstructed
using Q-Tips and shot with a throwaway Instamatic. If the
shower scene from Psycho, with Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins
portrayed by Q-Tips, or a Q-Tip luxuriating in the bed of
roses from American Beauty, or two Q-Tips riding a bike
from E.T. (pictured) strikes your fancy, you’re in
good company: Among the movie buffs who cotton to Farley’s
art are Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Salma Hayek and Ed Norton.
Lots more names happily strutted the gauntlet of frenzied
photos lined up in front of the gallery. We spotted MICHAEL
YORK, CAROLE KING, TREY PARKER, Sex and the City’s
JOHN CORBETT, suds star LAURA
LEE BELL, stage vet SEAN CULLEN,
and Once and Again’s STEVEN WEBER,
who lamented a crushed Q-Tip on the floor as “the ultimate
artistic statement of what Hollywood is all about.”
Perhaps the most ambitious work in the exhibition was the
life-size blond-wigged Q-Tip Marilyn Monroe in the entranceway,
plastic skirt billowing à la The Seven Year Itch.
Farley plans to continue in the movie-tip genre. “I’ve
been trying for ages to stop,” she sighed, “but
there are so many movies I haven’t yet tackled. I think
I’ve been taken over.” Sounds like “Invasion
of the Q-Tip Body Snatchers” will be coming soon to
a gallery near you.
Mary Beth Crain
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