Archive

Jonathan Livingston by Francois Curlet is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik

Car Art

The Daily Pic: Francois Curlet made a funereal Jaguar, then filmed it as a thriller's prop.

articles/2013/08/28/jonathan-livingston-by-francois-curlet-is-the-daily-pic-by-blake-gopnik/curlet-daily-pic_epxnn0
(Courtesy Francois Curlet and Galerie Micheline Szwajcer)
articles/2013/08/28/jonathan-livingston-by-francois-curlet-is-the-daily-pic-by-blake-gopnik/curlet-daily-pic_auneqp

At Art Basel last spring, French artist Francois Curlet presented this installation, of a hearse made from a Jaguar E-type roadster beside a video featuring it – and after all these months I've just now managed to get a low-res clip of the video, titled "Jonathan Livingston". (Click on my image to watch the clip.) I'm not sure I've found a profound interpretation of the piece, but there was so much in it I couldn't resist: The gorgeous peculiarity of the hearse (suitable only for dead midgets, as far as I can tell), the video's perfect channeling of a stylish 1960s thriller ("The Avengers", "The Prisoner") and – especially – the harpsichord-jazz soundtrack by XavierBoussiron, perfectly suited to the imagery.

For a full visual survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.