Photo: REX USA/Willi Schneider.Shia LaBeouf's quest for an authentic apology after his acts of plagiarism upon plagiarism have reached gallery status. Earlier this week, a (still) brown-bagged LaBeouf unveiled his #IAMSORRY show at a Los Angeles gallery where he was "in situ" for a week. From 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., he accepted visitors, and one by one, silently greeted them and stared.
It was all incredibly reminiscent of Marina Abramović's now exemplary performance, The Artist is Present, held at the MoMA back in 2010. According to visitors, one chooses a single object to bring into a room and sit in front of the actor/artist in silence. Like Abramović's piece, the visitor maintains eye contact with the artist; a connection is made, and, given the right spark, brings a surge of emotions to the surface, usually culminating in tears. The appropriation is far from subtle, though with LaBeouf's current track record, why would it? More importantly, what does the OG emotional oracle herself think of the whole ordeal?
"I can’t think that this is directly related to me," she told Vulture. "I’m very happy people are inspired by my work, but this is not the same work. I don’t see it as anything to do with me." She then launched into a brief commentary on fame, Hollywood, and the disconnect actors might feel with the general public. "Maybe they need our experience; maybe they need simplicity; maybe they need to be connected to the direct public, which, you know, being a Hollywood actor doesn’t permit you." Yes, perhaps that's the real reason. Perhaps this is one nihilistic trajectory of benign celebratory tropes (#art). Or, better yet, we're all being trolled. We'll leave it at that. (Vulture)