“How Dark My love?”: Renowned underground painter Joe Coleman and his special guests at the 31st Athens International Film Festival!

Joe Coleman will be at the Festival for the Greek premiere of the documentary "How Dark, My Love?", accompanied by his photographer wife and muse, Whitney Ward, the film's director and producers, and actress and director Asia Argento (Dario's daughter, of course), in a screening that you simply must not miss.

He is considered one of America's most innovative and controversial underground artists, capturing the macabre, the bizarre, and the unholy in paintings related to serial killers, cursed writers, actors, avant-garde musicians, and historical figures. His works have been exhibited in some of the world's most prestigious galleries, and articles dedicated to him have been published in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, praising the way Coleman depicts dark aspects of human behavior and multifaceted (and sometimes questionable) forms of American pop culture.

Among his admirers and collectors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch, and Iggy Pop. And on Wednesday evening, at the ASTY hall, Joe Coleman will be in Athens, accompanied by select colleagues and friends, including his photographer wife, Whitney Ward, actress and director Asia Argento, Emmy Award-winning director, and the producers of the exceptional documentary about his turbulent personal and artistic life: How Dark My Love?.

A few words about How Dark My Love?

Joe Coleman spent four years of his life painting a large-scale portrait of his photographer wife and dominatrix muse, in the familiar collage style that characterizes his paintings. It is a laborious tribute and a clear gesture of love on his part. However, as the details of the portrait gradually become clearer, so do some of the more unruly aspects of the life of a couple living on the edge, whose eccentric habits and behaviors range from the paradoxical and macabre to the outrageous.

And this film, without judging the two central characters, uses them for a lively reflection on art, individual freedom, exorcising personal demons through creation, and the unapologetic way in which each of us chooses to live our lives and define our coexistence with another person. It is a documentary that is playfully grotesque and at the same time unexpectedly tender, genuine rock 'n' roll at heart and clearly nostalgic for a legendary era and a handful of unconventional artists who managed to turn their lives into art and their art into life.

INFO

The film will be screened at the cinema ASTY on Wednesday, October 8, in the presence of Joe Coleman, Whitney Ward, Asia Argento, Emmy Award-winning director Scott Grachev, producers Jim Mascarella, Jason and Josh Diamond, and director of photography and producer Greg De Domenico.

The film will be screened again on Thursday, October 9, at the cinema ASTOR.