Hollyweird - Movie Star Mash ups

Hollyweird re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as documentation of truth, purveyor of memory and symbol of modern culture.

In these collages, I’ve appropriated portrait and postcard images found online and used them as ‘readymades’.

Through these curious and slightly disturbing juxtapositions, I’ve adopted the content and contexts of the original images to convey some - hopefully - weird, witty and poignant meanings.

The collages follow a similar and deceptively simple format: a film publicity portrait of a star whose face is covered by a postcard – ostensibly a mask – which opens a window into another space, paradoxically suggesting a view behind the mask constituted by the actor’s face.

Describing Elvis as an actor may be a bit of a stretch, however his work in Blue Hawaii represents a high water mark in pretend surfing. With thanks to John Stezaker whose work inspired this series.