Gérard Rancinan — Rancinan XXL, An Exhibition of Monumental Photography

LondonArt & Culture

Larger Than Life

Gérard Rancinan doesn't hold back with monumental photography show...

Everything about photographer Gérard Rancinan’s latest exhibition is big. The hairstyles are towering, the costumes are voluminous, the tableaux crammed, the action flamboyant, and the sheer scale of the images demand the viewer’s attention. Rancinan XXL lives up to its name in every aspect, and the collection of larger-than-life works – ranging from just under three metres tall to nearly 5 metres – is currently dominating the Opera Gallery London.

Rancinan’s résumé reflects the Frenchman’s serious talent, and he can count film stars, sportsmen and statesmen and among his portrait subjects. He also has a keen sense of fun, which fluctuates between parody and black humour, and it plays a major role in his five monumental set piece images which are being shown together for the first time. On the Way Back From Disneyland tells the tale of what might have happened if Andy Warhol, James Dean, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe had run out of gas in Death Valley, while Feast of the Barbarians, the most recent of Rancinan’s giant works, is a more contemporary critique of society. Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa is reworked in Raft of Illusions, with the desperate shipwreck survivors still clinging to the hope of rescue, not for salvation, but for the promise of Western brands. Closing date is 3 April.

@OperaGallery

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