DavidByrne.com -Action Love Gods

Action Love Gods

Years ago I was working in Madras on some music and visiting the surounding state, Tamil Nadu, wondering to myself "what images are evocative of this particular place?" One's first inclination might be to photograph the people, the bustling streets or the temples, shrines and unique architecture. But after some thought I realized that what really possessed the hearts and minds of the people, besides survival and their religious and secular duties and obligations, was an altogether different cosmology — namely the constellations of film stars that are the relief, inspiration and source of joy for much of the population.

So I began to photograph them as they most often appear to everyone — their most common Earthly manifestations — in the posters, ads and billboards that cover the streets and buildings of every Indian town.

It occurred to me that in this microcosm of the faces of the movie stars — the Gods of Love and Action — lies part of the interior world of the Southern Indian mind, in miniature. Here are the faces and images that float through the minds of the people, here is the stuff of their daily hopes and dreams.

Click on any thumbnail for larger pictures.

Women's Room Sign, Temple

Men's Room Sign, Temple

Installation view: Action Love Gods, "Strange Ritual", Gallery 44,
Toronto, Canada, September 6 – October 5, 1996

EXHIBITION HISTORY:

• ActionLoveGods!, Photographs Do Not Bend, Dallas, TX, March 7 – April 19, 1997 (Solo)

• Anima Mundi, Camerawork, San Francisco, CA, December 12, 1996 – February 1, 1997 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Il Ponte Gallery, Rome, Italy, September 20 – October 19, 1996 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada, September 6 – October 5, 1996 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Mylos Gallery, Thessoloniki, Greece, June 20 – July 14, 1996 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Galerie Ressle/Konsthandel, Stockholm, Sweden, March 20 – April 21, 1996 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Gallery Anonimus, Ljubljana, Slovenia, January 20 – February 20, 1996 (Solo)

• David Byrne: Strange Ritual, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK, January 19 – March 9, 1996 (Solo)

• Evidence of Human Habitation, Photo Center, Moscow, Russia, February 9 – March 2, 1995; Borey Art Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia, March 7 – 31, 1995; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia, April 10 – May 10, 1995; Loja da Atalaia (Sacred Objects, Sleepless Nights), Lisbon, Portugal, June 20 – July 1, 1995; Carousel Exhibition Space, Istanbul, Turkey, November 5 – 18, 1995 (Solo)

• David Byrne: Photographs, Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL, December 1, 1995 – January 3, 1996 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Chassie Post Gallery, Atlanta, GA October 17 – November 25, 1995 (Solo)

• Strange Ritual, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL, June 2 – 28, 1995 (Solo)

• Sacred Objects, Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, March 30 – April 25; travelled to: Kiyomisudera Joujuin-Temple, Kyoto, June 3 – 11, 1995; Parco Gallery, Osaka, June 15 – July 3, 1995 (Solo)

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