Johnny Depp: A Voom Portrait by Robert Wilson

The New York Times has described Robert Wil­son, the avant-garde artist, as “a tow­er­ing fig­ure in the world of exper­i­men­tal the­ater and an explor­er in the uses of time and space onstage.” Known for break­ing con­ven­tions and weav­ing togeth­er sound, images and text in evoca­tive ways, Wil­son cre­at­ed a series of “Voom” por­traits in 2007. As he explains in this inter­view (lis­ten here), the Voom series rein­vents the por­trait by pre­sent­ing fig­ures (includ­ing many celebri­ties) in high-def video rather than the tra­di­tion­al still image. And although the fig­ures remain still (per the con­ven­tion), there’s nonethe­less a cer­tain life and motion to them. Above, we fea­ture the Voom por­trait of actor John­ny Depp. Metafil­ter gives you links to 12 oth­ers.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

John­ny Depp Reads Let­ters from Hunter S. Thomp­son

John Waters: The Point of Con­tem­po­rary Art