What words would you use to describe 1960s French pop sensation Gigi Gaston? With a growing cult discovering her through the dozens of photos, periodicals, songs and videos assembled by Josh Gosfield, some adjectives describing the chanteuse nicknamed the "Black Flower" include "sultry," "elusive," "scandalous," "murderous" and "misunderstood."
To that you must add the word "fictitious" — Gigi Gaston is wholly and entirely a creation of Gosfield, an artist and designer whose exhibition at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Manhattan closes on Wednesday, November 25th after a monthlong run. Not only did he cast Gigi, shoot the period-perfect photos and create the meticulously rendered versions of the covers of actual magazine of the era along with a staggering variety of her record sleeves, he's also responsible for the putative Jean-Luc Godard film short for Gigi's haunting song "Je Suis Perdue," which is presented here for your viewing pleasure.
Listen to the archive of Josh Gosfield's appearance on this author's show, which aired on Sunday, November 22, here, during which he expounded upon his creation and dissemmination of the singer who put the "no-no" in yé-yé.
I watched the video before reading the second paragraph, and it was obvious within two seconds that it was fake
it's impossible to make video look like film
Posted by: Tim | November 21, 2009 at 03:10 PM
Pretty cool! I watched the trailer at Josh's website, and was startled to see steel guitar player Lucky Oceans appear as Gigi's guitarist. A little digging around led me to discover that Lucky is actually Josh's brother. Petit monde, no?
Posted by: Chris Burns | November 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM
I loved that documentary from the 80s Gigi made.
Posted by: Me | November 22, 2009 at 05:48 PM
toujours, always toujours,
but what about the film maker Gigi Gaston of Sophie Hawkins fame? Is she the grand-daughter?
Posted by: RKnot | November 23, 2009 at 11:18 AM
@ Tim:
During the interview, Josh Gosfield reveals that he did indeed shoot the "Godard" short on film. Perhaps because you viewed it via YouTube on a computer screen (coupled with the fact that i had informed you it was fake) threw off your usually keen eye.
Posted by: Gaylord Fields | November 24, 2009 at 11:22 PM