Monday entry (for 11/16/09): Artist of interest: Candice Breitz

Candice Breitz is a Berlin based South African artist. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1972. She holds several prestigious degrees, starting with her B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, which she received in 1993. Later in 1995 she received a M.A. in Art History at the University of Chicago. In 1997 she received a M.Phil. in Art History at Columbia University in New York. From 1998 to 2002 Breitz was a Doctoral Candidate in Art History at Columbia University. Breitz is best known for her video works and installations, though she also has created several photographic bodies of work that have varied greatly from one another in both subject matter and style.

One common theme throughout Breitz's work is focusing on the world of fandom in relation to pop-culture icons. In 2006 for her video installation Working Class Hero, Breitz invited a diverse community of John Lennon fans to pay tribute to the late musician by performing his first solo album, 'Plastic Ono Band,' from beginning to end on camera. In addition to offering intimate portraits of each participant, the resulting 25-channel video installation forms a survey of fan culture and reflects on the complex threads of identification that often characterize the relationship between celebrities and their public.



A year earlier in 2005, Breitz created King (A Portrait of Michael Jackson), a similar video installation of fans singing along to Michael Jackson songs while attempting his trademark dance moves.



In her 2007 photographic body of work Monuments, she continued her anthropological survey of the devotee. They are melancholic and funny portraits of how someone that a fan has never met can overwhelm their personality and become "an ever present soundtrack to their life.”

Britney Spears Monument, Berlin, September 2007

Iron Maiden Monument, Berlin, July 2007

Breitz's official website.

Interview with Breitz by Kopenhagen.com

Breitz's work was exhibited earlier this year at the Yvon Lambert Gallery in New York, NY.