Photo: Courtesy of Dazed & Confused.
Here is James Franco on the cover of Dazed & Confused. He is slathered in white paint and looks vaguely zombie-ish. This was probably meant to evoke some ideas about creativity, expressiveness, and the tortured inner life of the artist.
False.
The cover, shot by Josh Olins and styled by Robbie Spencer, merely celebrates the fact that Dazed Digital, the magazine's online home, is debuting a new video series, called Visionaries, helmed by an incredible cast of artists and filmmakers. They'll take over programming for a week each and premiere their own original films, as well as newly commissioned work from others. Franco is the inaugural curator of this series, where he'll debut an "art film about a masked couple who invade a gallery and run riot with a ton of paint." Which sounds about right for him.
Other participating artists include Björk, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and designer Kim Jones. The magazine also teases contributions from Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr and pagan filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Check out a trailer for the series here, and get excited. (Dazed & Confused)