Artists Space

Schmuck for a Lifetime

May 24 – July 14, 2001

Project Space 2
Adam Ames

Schmuck for a Lifetime is part of Adam Ames’ Becoming series, multi-channel video installations and stills that disturbingly explore the act of constructing and playing cult film characters in an attempt to define self-identity. In The King of Comedy, Robert DeNiro’s delusional character, the stand-up comic Rupert Pupkin, embodies all the frustration of a hack talent who has nothing but criminal determination to push his career forward. Breaking in and out of character, Ames attempts to achieve Pupkin’s level of mediocrity, a feat which is instrumental for the comic’s success, and by extension, the artist’s.