Rock Star (Character Appropriation)
By 1974 the archetype of the rock star as exemplary rebel and truth seeker had devolved into a passé set of pantomimes to be repeated before thousands in football stadiums. A master dissembler of fact and fiction, Lamelas set the shutter of his camera to go off automatically and then posed himself in the studio as if on stage, going through those motions. Like Cindy Sherman—who began staging her Untitled Film Stills three years later—Lamelas is not acting; rather, he is reanimating clichés from within. He performs poker-faced amid an accumulation of technical effects, as the haloes of stage lights bind artist and viewer in a mutually agreed-upon fantasy.
Artwork Details
- Title: Rock Star (Character Appropriation)
- Artist: David Lamelas (Argentinian, born 1946)
- Date: 1974
- Medium: Gelatin silver prints
- Dimensions: Image: 40.5 × 30.5 cm (15 15/16 in. × 12 in.)
Overall (horizontally arranged, with 1 1/2" spacing): 16 1/4 in. × 9 ft. 6 15/16 in. (41.3 × 292 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2006
- Object Number: 2006.406a–g
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Grete Stern
1948
Grete Stern
1949
Marcelo Brodsky
1996
Paolo Gasparini
1961–65
Vik Muniz
1998
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.