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ROLLING STONE IMAGES OF ROCK & ROLL |
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CLOTHES AND PROPS and makeup and faces can tell stories -- one look at Peter Gabriel transforming himself before going onstage demonstrates that. Does Gabriel view himself as a warrior preparing to enter battle or a clown whose purpose is to entertain a jaded public? Rock stars are a bit of both, and their performances both pander and assault, flatter and challenge. Makeup enhances and disguises, making a theater of the face and body, transfiguring a person into a character. Life becomes larger than life; the performer is himself and someone else, a man and a metaphor, a person and a commentary. The element of artifice is part of the performance to come, part of the medium through which the artist and the audience engage.
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