Marc Holm Reinvents Celebrity Portraits

Known for his portraits of the world’s most famous faces, Danish photographer Marc Holm recently presented his latest exhibition, Re-Framed at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York state. The intention is to challenge the way we experience celebrity photographs from context. The habitat in which twenty-eight of his photographs are installed is anything but ideal for celebrities. Not a white cube, not a lavishly decorated room, but an outdoor park overlooking Lake Otsego, adjoining the museum property. By bringing the portraits outdoors, Marc Holm accomplishes the operation made explicit in the title of the exhibition – re-framed – here understood as the context primarily, but referring also to the viewer’s perception of the portrayed celebrities. From Samuel L. Jackson to Taylor Swift, all the portraits are contained in the book that Holm releases in conjunction with the exhibition with the same title.

The sculptures, if you want to call them that, composed of gigantic frames and equally large prints, look imposing to the viewer who is about a third of their height. In fact, the giant prints are nearly 10 feet tall and are designed to remain here, outdoors, at the mercy of the weather, thus continuing to change their appearance and perception. In fact, the exhibition continues inside the museum and is completed in a more traditional way, also presenting the aforementioned book – Re-Framed – with about eighty of his most iconic portraits. The book will be available from June 20th for online pre-order.