PIERROT 2.0 2009

My approach was not to duplicate Nadar's original Pierrot poses, but to update them to reflect our complex contemporary lives: listening to an iPod, chatting on a cellphone, filming a tragic street incident, playing solitaire, eating fast food, taking pain killers, etc. Along with a wide range of emotions from suffering to greed to anger to bravado to whatever, the series, a collaboration with my friend, the performance artist LuLu LoLo, also reflects the uneasy hope and politics of the post-9/11 years. LuLu's brilliant improvisatory skill and always expressive facial gestures challenge viewers to identify and objectify the beauty and absurdities of our media-saturated lives.

Pierrot carte de visite — A carte de visite mockup of some of the poses in the Pierrot series.

The photographs in the Pierrot Series were taken in 1854-5. Nadar hired French mime Charles Deburau (the son of famous mime Baptiste Deburau) to play the character Pierrot in a series of photos Nadar hoped to show and sell to publicize the brothers' new studio. The portfolio was a whimsical catalog of theatrical expressions (surprised, running, imploring, with fruit, laughing, etc.).

Please visit my special website, commemorating Nadar's 200th birthday on April 6, 1820.

NADAR 200TH BIRTHDAY WEBSITE

Nadar was already self-referential in 1854.

PIERROT 2.0 SERIES

The series is signed toned black and white digital prints (uneditioned—for now).

TEST SHOOT FOR PIERROT 2.0

In August 2008, a few weeks before the birth of my son Max, LuLu and I explored what we would later create the following year. In the writing studio of the U.S. Custom House, we practiced poses and I experimented with lighting.

COLLABORATIONS WITH LULU LOLO

I've worked with LuLu on many projects since we met at LMCC in 2007. Please check out my special page with a selection of our photographs.

LULU