BE THEREJosh Gosfield: Gigi Gaston, the Black FlowerPresented by Steven Kasher Gallery October 22, 2009- November 25, 2009Reception: October 22, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmJosh Gosfield
As Norman Mailer wrote, in a 1974 Esquire story: Could this Black Flower with a voice like Piaf have guessed that when she bloomed into a teenage singing idol for post-war European youth, and later became the Continental fashion icon and sexy French pin-up girl on the bedroom walls of the hippest kids, that the future would strangle her dreams of normalcy, like the protagonists in one her romantically fatalistic songs? No, of course not. Because the characters of Greek tragedies are always the last to know their fates. We see Gaston’s first 45, Je Suis Ici (Où es-tu?), which sold two million copies in 1961 and changed everything. We see her third single, L’Etranger, which stirred Françoise Hardy to exclaim, “The more I heard it the more upset I became. I actually thought about quitting the business. But in the end I could not let her show me up.” We see Gigi on the covers of 60s periodicals Tutta Musica, Flamme, Strip, Pop Weekly, New Musical Express, Jour de France, Photoplay, Fabulous, and more. Gaston was the poster girl for Gitane. Her marriage to Italian film star Giorgio Fortuna was on the cover of Paris Match. When that marriage descended into infidelity and murder, the trial was a worldwide sensation. The exhibition will feature over 50 oversized prints -- limited edition archival digital prints featuring Gigi. The largest prints are approximately 40 x 60”. Accompanying the exhibition is a magazine compilation of Gigi graphics, in an edition limited to 125 signed copies. In fact Gigi Gaston did not exist. Her persona and all her documents are the fictional creation of Josh Gosfield working with the aid of actors, stylists, make up artists, and Photoshop. This exhibition can leave you wondering if Madonna exists. How do you know? Josh Gosfield is painter, photographer, illustrator and videographer who has exhibited and been published widely. He resides in New York City.
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