At Large  July 24, 2024  Carlota Gamboa

David Zwirner Artists Among The Cast of Luca Guadagnino’s "Queer"

Wikimedia Commons

Nose Job, Andra Ursuta, 2018. License

The Venice Film Festival lineup was announced earlier this week, and with it came a stir of anticipation. Titles that were released by the Biennale's President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and the festival’s Artistic Director Alberto Barbera included Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, and Pablo Larraín’s tribute to opera singer Maria Callas entitled Maria. 

Among them, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, based on the 1985 William S. Burroughs' novel by the same name, is also a top contender for this year's Golden Lion. Partnering for the second time with Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, Guadagnino has described the project as his most personal film to date.

With costumes by Loewe's creative director Jonathan Anderson, the film stars Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, and Jason Swatzman. The story takes place in 1940’s Mexico City, as expat (Craig) eventually becomes obsessed with a younger, drug-addicted Navy serviceman played by Starkey. 

Wikimedia Commons, Bart Ryker

Venice Film Festival, 2018. License

Some unexpected cameos also came to light in lieu of the film’s announcement. It seems that Belgian painter Michaël Borremans and Romanian sculptor Andra Ursuța will also form part of the acting ensemble, though their roles are not clear as of now. This was later confirmed by David Zwirner gallery, who represents both artists. 

Borremans, who has been lauded by the New York Times as one of "the greatest living figurative painters," has also found himself in a fair share of controversy over the past few years. Claiming to draw inspiration from Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and Diego Velázquez, he is best known for surrealist-leaning work and paintings of gruesome scenes in hyper-realistic style. 

In November of 2022, Borremans was involved in the backlash surrounding a highly controversial Balenciaga ad campaign. The strange and seemingly intentional advertisements depict rows of silver jewelry, bags, hair accessories, water bottles, and sunglasses, as a toddler stands nearby holding a BDSM-clad teddy bear. Images that were released among the same series feature Borremans' book, As Sweet as It Gets (2014), in the background.

Wikimedia Commons, Filip Naudts

Self-portrait of Michael Borremans, circa 2012. License

Though it’s unknown whether Borremans even knew of his book’s inclusion, it was unfortunately placed next to paperwork from U.S. v. Williams, the 2008 Supreme Court decision concluding that child pornography is illegal and not protected under freedom of speech. 

Ursuța's work doesn’t bring quite as many complex strings attached to it, though both artists are interested in the examination of the body. Much of Ursuța's work centers around the subversion of history with her anachronistically headless busts and the abstractions of misogynistic beauty standards.

Even though neither artist has previously been involved with a major motion picture, it’s not the first time Guadagnino has brought artists into his projects. Contemporary painter and printmaker Elizabeth Payton was commissioned to make the poster for Bones and All, while allusions to Gina Pane and Ana Mendieta appeared in the 2018 remake of Suspiria.

About the Author

Carlota Gamboa

Carlota Gamboa is an art writer based in Los Angeles.

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