Confusing, Vexing, And Beautiful

David Byrne turns the deadly sins on their head to say something new about the world
By David Byrne
Detail · From the May 2005 magazine
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Former Talking Head David Byrne originally created The New Sins as a small book of images and short essays, to be left, uncredited, in hotel rooms. “I love the idea of art appearing somewhat anonymously in the world,” Byrne says. “Work perceived and discovered in the street, in out-of-the-way places . . . allows the work to be more affecting, more in the world, more confusing, vexing, and beautiful.” Byrne has since reconfigured the series as twelve light-box images: Beauty (above), Charity, Sense of Humor, Thrift, Ambition, Hope, Intelligence/Knowledge, Contentment, Sweetness, Honesty, Cleanliness, and Temperance. The New Sins will appear in bus shelters along Queen Street West in Toronto as part of the annual Contact Photography Festival May 1–31, 2005. Visit contactphoto.com for more information.

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