Vanity for Make Down II

by

Dennis Adams

The video monitor is built into the frame of an illuminated make-up vanity. The video consists of a single, fixed shot that lasts twenty-three minutes: a close-up of the artist looking at himself in a mirror as he carefully removes a thick layer of make-up from his face, hair, and torso. The make-up is a drab olive color suggestive of military camouflage. Each of the pieces of paper that he uses to wipe off the make-up is printed with one of a linear sequence of ninety-six film stills.

The sequence of film stills depicts a shot from Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers that shows a young Algerian woman removing her veil as she prepares to transform herself into a cosmopolitan French beauty. Once disguised, she will pass undetected through a military checkpoint and plant a bomb in the French quarter of Algiers. Released in 1965 and initially banned in France, The Battle of Algiers has long been a cinematic primer for insurgents and state police. Since 9/11 the film has become an essential case-study for both Jihadists and US government and Military personnel.

Text from the website of Kent Fine Art.

Installation View

Photo: Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie

Design and fabrication of the frame by Mark Baumgartner Studio.

Size:              31-7/16” W x 2-3/4” D x 19-1/2” H

                     79.9 cm W x 7 cm D x 49.5 cm H

Materials:       Aluminum, stainless steel hardware, incandescent light fixtures, LCD screen and DVD player

To see a slideshow click on one of the pictures.