Keeping his #NewRules claim in place, Jay-Z decided to premiere his new music video performance art piece for “Picasso Baby” on HBO tonight after his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. Compiling footage from the six-hour performance a couple weeks back at Pace Gallery in New York City; which shows Hov performing the song face-to-face withfans, actors, writers, art dealers, performers, musicians and artists. Magna Carta Holy Grail in stores now.
The idea of performance art came to mind. I was aware of Marina Abramovic’s Artist is Present, even though I was in London shooting ‘Never Let Me Go’ and didn’t get to go. And the idea that Jay-Z regularly performs to 60,000 people at a time, I thought, ‘What about performing at one person at a time?’ He absolutely loved it. He interrupted me and said, ‘Hold on! I’ve got chills. That idea is perfect.’ He thinks, like me, that the music video has had its era. I also wanted to make sure we had Marina’s blessing. So she attended the event and took part in the event. She couldn’t have been more happy or enthusiastic about us using her concept and pushing it forward. – Director Mark Romanek [HuffPost]
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