US actor James Franco, well-know from films like Spider Man, Milk, Howl, or 127 Hours, has other qualities, too: he is an artist. Opening tonight at Peres Projects in Berlin, The Dangerous Book Four Boys is the first European solo exhibition of James Franco, previously presented at the Clocktower Gallery, NYC. Franco’s works explore a variety of issues stemming from adolescence while acknowledging the contributions of influential artists and filmmakers such as Marina Abramovic, Paul McCarthy and Kenneth Anger. This exhibition brings together short films, drawings, photographs, ephemera, sculptures and installations made over the last 4 years where we see Franco draw upon childhood experiences including notions of identity, masculinity, sexuality and other essential life experiences and culminates in presenting a rejection of normative parenthood and suggesting alternative paradigms for parental relations.
Hollywood star Franco talks about his first exhibition in Berlin in the current Monopol issue, interviewed by Jenny Schlenzka (in German).
James Franco: The Dangerous Book Four Boys
Exhibition opening tonight, February 12, 7 – 10 pm, in two locations:
Peres Projects Mitte, Grosse Hamburger Strasse 17, 10115 Berlin
Peres Projects Kreuzberg, Schlesische Strasse 26, 10997 Berlin
Dates: February 12 – April 23, 2011
Film Still from ‘The Dangerous Book Four Boys’, Peres Projects, Berlin, 2011, Courtesy Peres Projects, Berlin und AIR/Clocktower Gallery, New York
