I I i

I I i, solo exhibition at Full Haus, Los Angeles. From the press release:

There’s a photograph in the New York Times of a jubilant crowd holding up a beefy guy wearing a Captain America costume, his round shield swung high in the air. His sweeping gesture mirrors the pose of the Discobolus statue; his pedestal, in that case, would be the shoulders of the mob hoisting him up. Before the more-oft-quoted parts of 'Sculpture in the Expanded Field,' Krauss characterizes pedestals as 'an important part of the structure since they mediate between actual site and representational sign.'

The crowd-qua-pedestal had gathered to celebrate the killing of Osama bin Laden, a spontaneous reaction to the announcement of his death. They came to dance on Bin Laden’s grave, literally on top of the mass grave of the World Trade Center: for the fanboy in the photograph, it’s the cosplay opportunity of the decade.

Animations are probably more famous than flesh and blood stars, if you factor in the international audience, and, of course, are far more adaptable – they speak every language, never age or exhaust, and never act out, breakdown, misbehave. But cosplay is like reality’s revenge; imagine the scandal when Batman is caught in flagrante delicto with a Minion in the convention hall bathroom.