虽然安吉丽娜·朱莉在好莱坞Dumbopremiere last night with four of their six kids, Brad Pitt was in Paris, seen arriving at the airport and then later at the Musée d’Art Moderne. I justchecked the website, the museum is closed until Friday which is when Thomas Houseago’sfirst retrospective in Francewill be presented until June. Brad’s been friends with the artist for some years and as we’ve seen over the last couple, he’s been photographed several times working on his own sculptures at Houseago’s studio. So Brad was there for an early view of the exhibit. Here’s a teaser video:
I have a jumble of thoughts I’m trying to work out. Maybe you can make some sense of it. For some reason, Angelina on a Disney red carpet and Brad doing the art thing in Paris reminds me of when he and Jennifer Aniston divorced and, when asked afterwards in Vanity Fair if there was anything she enjoyed about being alone, she said, “I can have a comfortable couch”. For a long time during Brange, it was assumed that he and Angelina were better matched artistically and, of course, in reputation and persona, the contrast between Jennifer and Angelina has always been “warm” vs “remote”. Jen’s accessible. Angelina is inaccessible. But wait…
Isn’t the guy who prefers to sit on corners and angles instead of cushions the most remote and inaccessible of all of them? I’m not saying that going to an art museum in Paris makes him inaccessible. What I’m pointing out, rather clumsily, is the high-low art thing. For all his appeal to the MiniVan Majority and their embrace of him as the fantasy dude in the backyard grilling steaks with a beer in his hand, Brad might actually be more “high” art than both of his ex-wives, in reality more cultural elite than his base assumes. Until of course he needs them onside in a public relations battle – which speaks to the way he’s selectively and successfully curated his image. Like I said, this is all still in my head, pieces of thoughts that are probably a bigger conversation about celebrity image curation, specifically how gendered image curation can be in its effectiveness and what we’re willing to buy from some and not others. If you have notes, send them my way.
