As pop-culture guru Brian Eno points out in his introduction to this collection of portraits by the inventive Dutch photographer of celebrities, Corbijn invites his subjects to take part in a game of creating something new, to try on new souls. As a result, many well-known faces are strange and almost unrecognizable. Luciano Pavarotti's trademark smile, for example, becomes a diabolical sneer; a pensive Frank Sinatra is dwarfed by the fixtures of a restaurant bar; Bono and Salman Rushdie stand nose to nose like lovers; and Allen Ginsberg takes on the persona of a staid professor. Some of the faces are partially hidden?Clint Eastwood's by his pointing finger, Slash's by his hair, Lenny Kravitz's by a mask, Gerard Depardieu's by cigarette smoke. Quentin Tarantino peers from behind a tree, and John Lee Hooker is represented by his hand. These photographs, mostly in black and white, are not glamorous; but because Corbijn brings out something unsuspected, we realize that we do not know these famous people nearly as well as we like to think we do. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
