Artists who surrendered to Michael Jackson - The Province
Michael Jackson Not only was he an icon of popular culture, with a planetary legion of fans: an exhibition in Paris shows to what extent artists like Andy Warhol surrendered at his feet.
The exhibition, presented earlier this year at the National Portrait Gallery in London, begins at the end: the last portrait of the artist before his tragic death in 2009. It is about a monumental work, the American Kehinde Wiley, in which Jackson appears as a monarch of the sixteenth century, riding on horseback with beautiful armor.
The painting, inspired by 'King Felipe II on horseback' by Rubens it sets the tone of the exhibition and reflects the weight of Michael Jackson, "one of the most influential cultural characters of the 20th century," according to the retrospective "On the wall" at the Grand Palais museum.
About 40 artists exhibit their vision of the "king of pop", singer of all sales records, whose album 'Thriller' is still the best seller of history.
AFP "Other singers comor David Bowie and Paul McCartney They influenced the artists, but the case of Michael Jackson is unmatched, "said the curator of the show, Vanessa Desclaux.
But who undoubtedly opened that path was Andy Warhol, who began to photograph it in the late 1970s. In 1984, Time magazine used one of his screen-printed portraits for a cover dedicated to the singer. Years later, Jackson would return the tribute including a self-portrait of Warhol in the clip of the song "Scream".
Flattered like Jesus?
Was Michael Jackson an icon (a model) or an idol (a flattered character)? Both at the same time, according to the exhibition, which shows the portraits signed by the American David LaChapelle, in which Jackson is represented as a "Jesus of the United States", with elements belonging to the Christian iconography.
Although the message may seem exaggerated, the images displayed on a screen of tens of thousands of fans screaming at a concert in Bucharest, while Jackson slowly takes off his sunglasses, do nothing but reinforce it.
AFP The artists' admiration also has a lot to do with the model of universality that it represented, with a music accessible to all, as well as the importance that the world-wide reputation of this singer, originating from a modest family of Indiana, earned for the black community of his country.
"Michael always challenged normality and the right thing, this is one of the reasons why so many artists were inspired by him, in addition to his infinite creativity," said one of his official photographers, Todd Gray, who attended the presentation of the shows in the Grand Palais, where he exhibits several black and white snapshots, in which he only sees for example a matte of curly Jackson hair.
But above all, Michael Jackson was an artist whose songs became hymns for millions of people.
An installation shows several European fans that Jackson selected to sing a cappella all the songs of "Thriller". The result, a heterogeneous group of sexes, ages and races which shows how he managed to bring diversity together.
