Educational Media Reviews Online

Although viewers hoping for much light to be shed on the reclusive personal life and working method of the internationally-acclaimed photographer and visual artist appearing in the title of this infectiously quirky film may be disappointed, there is nevertheless much to enjoy in its sprightly mélange of confessional autobiography, raffish journalism, and idiosyncratic travelogue through the milieu of New York City’s art world in the 1990s, replete with archival footage and interviews with scores of artists, critics, gallery owners and other luminaries of the period. In 1993, the film’s co-director, narrator, and primary subject Paul H-O kicked off Gallery Beat, a free-wheeling public-access television show exploring the art market with a humorous streak of pretention-deflating populism. As its persistent and infectiously irreverent host, H-O wended his way as an outsider through the elite art scene, appearing at gallery events and steadily gaining greater access to artists for the show and wider attention from audiences both within and without the art world.

Eventually, after H-O obtains access to Sherman for Gallery Beat, a flirty affinity develops between them over the course of several interview sessions in her studio, blossoming into a romance in which he gradually becomes absorbed in her life, accompany her to various international events celebrating her work, until finally he discovers himself feeling like an accessory to her life, relegated to the shadow cast by her fame, which contributes to the subsequent dissolution of their relationship. At this point, the documentary takes on a renewed and more sharply personal focus, as if the film itself were a vehicle for H-O’s piecing together and reestablishing his identity in a new key, which he proceeds to do with both humorous self-parody and disarmingly candid self-scrutiny.

Bonus features include several hours of outtakes from interviews featured in the film with, among others, Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, John Waters, and Eric Bogosian, as well as a commentary track by the filmmakers. Overall, this affecting and absorbingly hybrid work will engage a wide audience and is especially recommended for collections serving studies in contemporary art.