Whatever. I don’t like this. It doesn’t feel original, or interesting to me in the least, but I’m posting it because I like Cindy Sherman and I do think James can do cool things. I tend to like his movies more than his art work though. With his art, he’s mostly failed to show anything that feels like he put more than a few minutes thought into it.

This work in particular doesn’t sit well with me. It feels cheap and almost mocking of Cindy Sherman. The recent series of Sherman-inspired shots by San Francisco drag artists is fresh and clever. The drag artists have their own things to say about gender representation and portraiture. They are a natural progression of Cindy’s concept for the times we live in. And perhaps most importantly, they have zero pretense. Franco’s Cindy rip-offs feel like a gimmick to get a few blog mentions and further cement his status as “arty and creative”. At least they’re half successful.

The work was made for a show at the CoSTUME NATIONAL boutique and gallery in Soho called ‘New Dark Wave’. Mr. Franco also showed a film he made called ’40 Minutes’ inspired by Al Pacino’s movie ‘Cruising’. Now that’s a pretty good movie.

Two more shots inside.

[source]