Last week saw the release of Howl, a film about the obscenity trial surrounding the release of Allen Ginsberg's poem of the same name in 1957, and the latest venture by actor and now general all round renaissance man James Franco. Dulcie and I went to see it at the Cornerhouse, and though I was apprehensive at first, we both really enjoyed the eclectic mix of animation and poetry recital recreations. It seems Franco has come a long way since portraying the son of Spiderman's arch nemesis; in the past year alone Franco has been Academy Award nominated for one of his numerous film roles, released a book of short stories, as well as entering the art world with gallery shows in Berlin and Beverly Hills, the latter a collaboration with Gus Vant Sant, who he worked with on the film Milk, at no less than the monolith that is Gagosian Gallery. In fact, his wikipedia entry labels him as 'actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, painter and performance artist', as well as pointing out his current study for a Ph.D at Yale University. It seems there is nothing the man can't do.
In branching out into so many different areas of the creative industries Franco proves an interesting case. Many writers have dabbled in the film industry and actors and musicians are renowned for exchanging roles. The real question is whether they achieve any real success, and whether there acceptance is affected by their fame in a different field. Elvis Presley wasn't taking that seriously as an actor, nor Joaquin Phoenix as rapper. Today the crossover seems to be becoming a more popular phenomenon, with even Lady Gaga being heralded as a performance artist. Is Franco to be taken seriously as an artist, then, or does his rising to fame as a Hollywood actor negate any artistic offering he may wish to make as negligible, a mere vanity project? It is certainly an interesting question to consider in a world which claims to be post-canon, the boundaries of high and low long removed since the emergence of a so called postmodern age.
(James Franco, The Dangerous Book Four Boys, Peres Projects Berlin 2011)
Perhaps Franco is a Warhol for our times, refusing to be held down to one field or another but moving between roles with seemingly unending creative energy. Or perhaps he is simply making the most of a famous name, exhibiting at a gallery that is not shy to representing artists whose reputation often eclipses their art work - the late Dash Snow, Terence Koh, a some time Lady Gaga collaborator. Either way the fact is that he is doing these things, his book has been published, receiving not all that bad press along the way, and he is showing in the world's largest commercial art gallery. There will always be cynics, but who are we to judge? and is it ever possible to analyse art (or literature) objectively, unaffected by our knowledge of its author?
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