Gus Van Sant: Icons

From Drugstore Cowboy to Sea of Trees, Van Sant is both indie auteur and Hollywood subversive

Gus Van Sant: Icons offers insight into the world of filmmaker Gus Van Sant, published on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Cinémathèque française in Paris. This comprehensive monograph surveys the full range of Van Sant’s artistry from photography and painting to music, filtered through the perspective of his films. The exhibition and catalogue are a thoroughly original take on a distinctive filmmaker, bringing together all facets of his work for the first time and offering a fresh vision of his iconic filmmaking.

The heart of Gus Van Sant: Icons is a previously unpublished interview with Van Sant conducted in Portland in June 2015 by Matthieu Orléans, the exhibition’s curator. In a wide-ranging conversation, the two men discuss the whole scope of Van Sant’s work and inspirations. Van Sant connects himself to a lineage of other artists, citing William Burroughs, William Eggleston, Harmony Korine and Ed Ruscha as influences. The filmmaker offers firsthand anecdotes and in-depth appraisals of the production processes of each of his movies, from the experimental shorts of the 1970s to his most recent film, Sea of Trees, presented at the Cannes Festival in May 2015.