Your Action World
by David ByrneChronicle Books, 128 pp., $29.95 (paper)
Who knew that a pleasant goof like David Byrne, the Talking Head of the big white suit and glasses, had so much to bitch about? Most of the images and text in his big yellow rubbery book are spent mocking the evil corporate culture which has all but taken its own seat at the United Nations in this decade. An appropriate target for the fury of art, sure. But much of Byrne’s work suffers from a lightness and kitschiness that renders his distaste rather useless. There are some hilarious moments in this book — most notably the dialogue bubbles placed over photographs of unaware and unsuspecting models. In one image, a saccharine older woman smiles and holds a cell phone to her ear while the text above her reads, “I’m ready to die.” Unfortunately, though, the ambition of the book seems to overreach Byrne’s willingness to engage himself very seriously in his own topic.
This article appears in December 24 • 1999.