The centrepiece is a conjoined rag doll with two faces projected onto it: Bowie's and (Tony) Oursler's wife, the abstract impressionist artist Jacqueline Humphries. It is a technique that Oursler, one of the world's leading video and installation artists, has trademarked. The joint figure was a by-product of the pieces used to showcase Bowie's 50th birthday celebrations at Madison Square Gardens in 1997, which Oursler also directed. "There's a theme of looking back and moving forward to Where Are We Now?, of abandoning things and carrying things forward. It was very poignant for David to have that figure from his birthday in the video."
Secrecy for Bowie's comeback was paramount. Speaking from his New York studio, Oursler said only "around a baker's dozen" knew about the whole project: Bowie, his family, producer Tony Visconti, Humphries, Oursler, his five studio assistants and one or two others - and they all had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. "Certainly no more than 20 people knew. My nine-year-old son Jack walked in on us filming and I joked that David was his babysitter for the day. There were white knuckle moments worrying if something leaked - it's amazing in this day and age that nothing did. No one had the slightest idea - what an amazing birthday gift to the world."
Humphries, who received a thank you email from Bowie just before speaking to The IoS, added: "I had to keep stopping myself from blurting it out to someone. It's astonishing it stayed under wraps. I was a bit worried about which way it was going to go but the response has been overwhelming."
The 52-year-old artist modestly described her role as "not really doing much" and said she was thrilled to star in the video. "David is just a magician. It was a great collaboration between his music and Tony's aesthetics." (...)
(Oursler siger:) "David was thinking about the second character in the video and then just stopped and looked at me: 'what about Jacqueline?' he asked."
Humphries had never appeared in her husband's work with the exception of the use of her hand. Bowie and Humphries were transformed into "electric effigies" as Oursler calls them. "I don't like the word 'puppets'."
Bowie had experienced the role before. His face graced an effigy of a movie director which formed part of a three-part installation entitled Switch, displayed at the Hirsshorn Museum in Washington DC in 1996, barking orders at invisible actors leaving visitors laughing nervously. Oursler also designed Bowie's Earthling Tour in 1997, full of large eyeballs floating around concerts occasionally winking and blinking.
David, Jacqueline, Tony
Flot maleri, "Sort mandag", malet af Jacqueline
