In a darkened room, twenty-five faces – all in a neat row – are singing at you. Some with their eyes closed, some nodding their head to a beat you can’t hear, some in tune, some out of tune, all singing. There is no music other than the singing of these twenty-five individuals. There are too many voices – they’re not all singing in unison – and at first it becomes unclear what song they’re singing. Lyrics start to come forward: “hold on world, world, hold on/ it’s gonna be alright,” and the song becomes recognizable – “Hold On” by John Lennon. However, the song itself becomes less important than the people singing. Who are they? All we know is that they are all John Lennon fans.

Working Class Hero by Candice Breitz (on view at SFMOMA) examines what it means to be a fan and how being a fan of someone or something has become a means to identify oneself. On Facebook with a simple click of the mouse, you can “become a fan” of anything from Bruce Springsteen to Sriracha hot sauce to “being awesome.” Yet this isn’t the fan experience Breitz is looking at; the twenty-five men and women came to her open call because they shared an enthusiasm, a love even for one man’s songs. It’s evident in the face of the man in the white shirt and closely cropped hair: his eyes are closed for nearly the whole duration of the video, he sings with passion, with earnestness. It’s in the face of the balding man who sings, “I don’t believe in Elvis” with intensity. We don’t hear these people speak about their connection to these songs but you can feel it in their voices, in their movements and expressions.

Unlike Phil Collins’ The World Won’t Listen series, Breitz doesn’t rely on the aesthetics of karaoke – the simulated backdrops, the not quite right mimicking of the music. Instead Breitz films the individuals against a black background – letting their faces and bodies speak for themselves. Eschewing the karaoke set-up, the cheesiness of the performance is stripped away – there is not ironic stance to stand behind, no joking pretense. The black backdrop and the closely framed shots confront the viewer with these faces singing at you. The multiple faces, the multiple voices come at you with an almost disorienting force. It’s difficult to focus in on once person and it’s even harder to differentiate one voice from another. This chorus presents a survey of Lennon fans. The multiplicity is a snapshot, a sampling of a wider network. Ranging in age from 25-62 and hailing from various locations, Breitz presents a fan culture that is not isolated in one locality or one generation.

Working Class Hero is not quite a portrait of John Lennon, the person, but rather John Lennon, the icon. Breitz documents the icon of John Lennon through his fans, through their adoration in their performances. What Breitz presents is not an individual’s story of being a Lennon fan, but the collection of fans. What made Collins’ The World Won’t Listen series compelling was the play of location, kitsch and performativity that coalesced to a portrait that spoke less on The Smiths but on the subculture. Breitz’s more global take documents a sense of a fanbase, but a rather superficial one. One can gather individual’s dedication to Lennon in their movements, yet it becomes muddled, lost in the mass of voices and faces. Bretiz presents not a specific place or person and their individual investments get lost. While Working Class Hero is a fascinating study of global fandom, but I left the gallery wanting more, wanting to hear specific voices, specific stories. The examination of fan culture presented by Breitz is one that relishes in the multiple but denies the specialness, the personal connection that being a fan of someone or something really means.

- Jackie Im

*(Images courtesy the artist and SFMOMA: Candice Breitz, Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon) (composite), 2006; 25-channel video installation with sound; Courtesy the artist and Jay Jopling/White Cube; © Candice Breitz; photo: Alexander Fahl; Candice Breitz, Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon), 2006; 25-channel video installation with sound; Courtesy the artist and Jay Jopling/White Cube; © 2009 Candice Breitz; photo: Alex Fahl; Candice Breitz, Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon), 2006; 25-channel video installation with sound; Courtesy the artist and Jay Jopling/White Cube; © 2009 Candice Breitz; photo: Alex Fahl)