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Leonardo's painting Mona Lisa must be the most well-known 'old master', and also the most systematically and ruthlessly exploited. This short film pleads guilty of adding to the body of ever increasing quotation, but with the motive of commenting upon the images ubiquity. The film initially establishes a familiar situation - that of the camera viewing people viewing the painting in a gallery. As our attention is slowly focused upon the woman's 'mysterious smile', this attention is dramatically and surprisingly arrested revealing a much more practical context for the image. Potentially the first of a never-to-be-realized series cataloguing ash-trays, drinking mugs, plant-pot holders, table-mats, and similar souvenirs exhibiting images of famous works of art, the film is a visual joke, an anecdote based upon the popularity of the painting as decoration. (View on Vimeo alternative) |
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