Connect with us

Published

on

The blown-up newspaper pages displayed through the windows of an otherwise sparse, all-white gallery space in London’s busy Mayfair district stop you in your tracks.

Greta Thunberg, who has died aged 19, enjoyed a meteoric career as a climate activist,” begins one, the text surrounding a photograph of the young campaigner speaking into a mic; on the wall facing her is Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton, one hand on heart, the other held aloft in a triumphant fist. “Sir Lewis Hamilton, who has died aged 38, was the greatest British racing driver…”

Dolly Parton, Grace Jones, Sadhguru, Marc Almond and David Hammons are also immortalised. The text is there in black and white, past tense, matter-of-fact, next to images of their instantly recognisable faces.

Adam McEwen's obitary artwork at the Gagosian. Pic: Lucy Dawkins courtesy Gagosian
Image:
Pic: Lucy Dawkins courtesy Gagosian

Like the horrible moment you see your favourite celebrity trending on Twitter for no apparent reason, the incredibly real-seeming works evoke a panicked double-take. But don’t worry – these obituaries are in fact hypothetical, the latest works by artist Adam McEwen, featured in his first solo exhibition in London.

The great equaliser, death is one of art’s most prolific subjects – “the biggest subject”, McEwen says – but forecasting the inevitable so intricately and so specifically for very real, very much alive human beings, makes these faux newspaper articles rather uncanny.

While some might consider the works morbid or even distasteful, McEwen sees them as celebratory, though not uncritical. Similar to the introduction these subjects might get should they appear on Desert Island Discs or This Is Your Life, they are warts-and-all markers of a life well lived; a lifetime of experiences and personal qualities distilled into roughly 1,400 words.

The works are homages to “people I love”, McEwen tells Sky News. What links Parton, Thunberg, Lewis and the other figures featured is a thread of “tension”, he says, or triumph over adversity; they have played by their own rules and won.

More on Dolly Parton

“These people are demonstrations that despite it appearing life is very difficult – if not impossible – to negotiate, you in fact have more choices and freedom than you realise.” McEwen points to Parton, a performer who has written thousands of songs and who has revelled, according to his artwork, in “subverting expectations about large-breasted, big-haired women” from the American South.

“You look at the story of Dolly Parton and she demonstrates it. And Lewis Hamilton, let’s say; [it was] almost impossible to be a young black man who wants to be a Formula One driver, if not impossible. But he shows it is possible.”

Thunberg’s rapid rise from unknown schoolgirl to the world’s most famous environmental activist is one that fascinates McEwen. “Apart from her youth and her conviction,” he writes in her fake obit, “her ability to strike a chord lay in the power and simplicity of her message: older generations had left the young to suffer the consequences of their consumption. Everyone knew it; now the young weren’t going to let them ignore it anymore.”

From Malcolm McLaren to Kate Moss, Rod Stewart and Bill Clinton

Adam McEwen's obituary artworks featuring Jeff Koons, Nicole Kidman, Macaulay Culkin, Bill Clinton, Rod Stewart, Marilyn Chambers, Malcolm McLaren were part of Christie's The George Michael Collection sale in 2019. Pic: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock

8 Mar 2019
Image:
Adam McEwen’s previous works were part of The George Michael Collection sale at Christie’s in 2019. Pic: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock

As a young artist in the 1990s, McEwen subsidised his passion working part-time as an obituary writer for the Daily Telegraph. The idea to turn the form into art was born from a group show he was taking part in in 2000. “Everyone was given a Vivienne Westwood muslin shirt, a straitjacket, and we were told to do whatever we wanted. I decided to write Malcolm McLaren’s obituary… it was a homage to Malcolm and it had a kind of dark, slightly punk sensibility that made sense.”

Further fake obituaries to stars and notable figures followed, featuring everyone from Nicole Kidman, Kate Moss and Macaulay Culkin to Rod Stewart, Jeff Koons and Bill Clinton. Some would read differently now should he be starting afresh in 2023.

“They won’t be updated,” says McEwen. “Also, they function differently later. Let’s say, Macaulay Culkin, the actor. In 2004 he had a certain stature and a certain story; he was in Home Alone… 20 years later, we see it from a different position… You see this artwork now and it’s like, that’s not how I think about Macaulay Culkin anymore.”

Read more:
Is setting fire to millions of pounds worth of art a good idea?

The extreme life of a 76-year-old micro-engraver

McLaren, the former Sex Pistols manager and partner of Westwood, later came to hear about his own obit. “I met him once and told him,” McEwen says. “He was sort of initially nonplussed and then he laughed.”

He says Koons was also aware of his. “It’s a funny relationship, but it’s not… people have said to me, why don’t you do Trump? Kill him! They’re not really getting the point.”

‘This isn’t a morbid wish – death is a fact’

Adam McEwen. Pic: Andisheh Avini
Image:
Adam McEwen. Pic: Andisheh Avini

McEwen says he doesn’t worry about how his subjects might react to seeing the stories of their lives told through their made-up deaths. “The only thing I know about Greta Thunberg, for real… the only thing I know for sure about Nicole Kidman or Bill Clinton, is that they are going to die. I’m not using it as a morbid wish. It’s a fact. For me also, I’m going to die.

“I don’t think [it’s] upsetting. Apart from anything else, these things exist in filing cabinets, or in digital filing cabinets, already for famous people. For Dolly Parton, there are already obituaries written for her, because they have to be. All I’m doing is appropriating something that’s already there.”

Read more:
Misogyny or unconscious collusion – why are female artists losing out?
V&A East’s plans to shake up the art world

When he worked for the Telegraph, McEwen wrote obituaries in reaction to sudden deaths – including for John F Kennedy Jr in 1999, when he died alongside his wife and sister-in-law in a private plane crash – as well as planned pieces.

Just like a real newspaper article, there may be errors to look out for in his artwork, he says. “Typos, sure. Maybe factual errors. I mean, exactly like a newspaper. It’s 6pm. It’s got to go to press. We do the best [we can] and then the next morning, ‘Oh f***, we’ve missed that typo’. It’s the same. I’ve done them when they go, ‘in 19XX…’ and I was going to find the date [but forgot], and then it’s done and it’s in the exhibition. ‘Damn, I didn’t see that.’ But it doesn’t matter, because it’s the same. It’s all part of it.”

Adam McEwen’s exhibition of fake obituaries dedicated to living celebrities is showing at Gagosian’s Davies Street gallery in London until 11 March

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Lauren Laverne given ‘all clear’ following cancer diagnosis

Published

on

By

Lauren Laverne given 'all clear' following cancer diagnosis

BBC presenter Lauren Laverne has said she has been given the “all clear” after being diagnosed with cancer.

The 46-year-old said in a post on social media that she will return to work next week on The One Show and has been working on new episodes of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

She said she is set to also return to her 6 Music show in the new year.

Laverne announced she was undergoing cancer treatment back in August after a screening test caught the disease “early and unexpectedly”.

She has not specified what type of cancer she had.

Thanking medical staff, friends and all those who sent her get well wishes, Laverne said on Sunday she would most like to thank her husband Graeme and her two children, who she said have been “absolutely extraordinary throughout”.

“It’s been a difficult time but one that has taught me so much about what really matters,” she wrote.

“I can’t say I suddenly regretted never having hiked the Inca Trail, more that I now see more beauty in ordinary things than I could have imagined, and feel more than ever that the small things in life – the connections we make and care we take with each other – are the big things really.”

A new episode of Desert Island Discs is due to air on 1 December, and will be a pre-recorded interview with comedian Mark Steel that is believed to have been done by Laverne before she went on leave.

Read more from Sky News:
Zayn Malik’s tribute to Liam Payne at show
Kanye West accused of sexual assault

She will return to record more episodes as well as Christmas editions of the series over the next few weeks.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “We’re delighted to welcome Lauren back to the studio this month for The One Show and Desert Island Discs, with new episodes airing on Radio 4 from 1 December, and we look forward to welcoming Lauren back to BBC Radio 6 Music in the new year.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

‘Love you bro’: Zayn Malik’s tribute to Liam Payne at first show since former bandmate’s death

Published

on

By

'Love you bro': Zayn Malik's tribute to Liam Payne at first show since former bandmate's death

Zayn Malik paid tribute to former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne as he kicked off his solo tour.

Payne died last month of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage” after falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, according to a post-mortem.

Images from Leeds’s O2 Academy on Saturday showed Malik – who delayed his Stairway To The Sky tour due to Payne’s funeral on Wednesday – shared a tribute.

A message was displayed with a heart on a large blue screen behind the singer reading: “Liam Payne 1993-2024. Love you bro.”

The 31-year-old also previously postponed the US leg of the tour after the “heartbreaking loss”.

He later rescheduled the Edinburgh shows, which had been planned for 20 and 21 November, to December due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Following Payne’s death, Malik said he “never got to thank” him for his support during some of the “most difficult” times.

“I will cherish all the memories I have with you in my heart forever,” he said in a post on Instagram.

Read more:
Kanye West accused of sexual assault
Ed Sheeran ‘helped Ipswich sign player’

Malik rose to fame in 2010 when Simon Cowell teamed him up with Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan on talent show The X Factor.

Malik left the band in 2015 and all members went on to pursue their own solo careers.

An investigation has been launched into Payne’s death by prosecutors and three people have been charged in connection with the incident.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Kanye West accused of sexual assault on set of music video in new lawsuit

Published

on

By

Kanye West accused of sexual assault on set of music video in new lawsuit

Rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – has been accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit that alleges he strangled a model on the set of a music video.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing

The lawsuit alleges the musician shoved his fingers in the claimant’s mouth at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City in 2010, in what it refers to as “pornographic gagging”, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.

The model who brought the case – which was filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York – was a background actor for another musician’s music video that Ye was guest-starring in, NBC said, citing the lawsuit.

She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the 47-year-old.

A representative for Ye was approached for comment by NBC News on Saturday.

The New York City Police Department said it took “sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors”.

The lawsuit alleges that a few hours into the shoot, the rapper arrived on set, took over control and ordered “female background actors/models, including the claimant, to line up in the hallway”.

The rapper is then believed to have “evaluated their appearances, pointed to two of the women, and then commanded them to follow him”.

The lawsuit adds the claimant, who was said to be wearing “revealing lingerie”, was uncomfortable but went with Ye to a suite which had a sofa and a camera.

When in the room, Ye is said to have ordered the production team to start playing the music, to which he did not know his lyrics and instead rambled, “rawr, rawr, rawr”.

The lawsuit claims: “Defendant West then pulled two chairs near the camera, positioned them across from each other, and instructed the claimant to sit in the chair in front of the camera.”

While stood over the model, the lawsuit clams Ye strangled her with both hands, according to NBC.

It claims he went on to “emulate forced oral sex” with his hands, with the rapper allegedly screaming: “This is art. This is f****** art. I am like Picasso.”

Read more from Sky News:
Cillian Murphy and his wife buy a cinema
Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF

Universal Music Group is also named in the lawsuit as a defendant and is accused of failing to investigate the incident.

The corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment by NBC.

Jesse S Weinstein, a lawyer representing the claimant, said the woman “displayed great courage to speak out against some of the most powerful men and entities within the entertainment industry”.

Continue Reading

Trending