Renowned actor Norman Reedus, best known for his portrayal as Daryl Dixon in the television series The Walking Dead, is also an international artist and photographer. Step inside the inventive mind of Reedus by taking a look at his recently published book, The Sun’s Coming Up… Like a Big Bald Head. It is filled with dark and gruesome images that exist somewhere between Reedus's reality and our own.
The book opens with forewards written by co-star Andrew Lincoln, music producer Howie B and music legends Kim Gordon and Deborah Harry:
"I’ve always thought Norman has sexy eyes, the sleepy sexy eyes. Millions of us watch him take aim with a crossbow to shoot Zombies with such astounding accuracy that we feel deep gratitude for his talents. So those sleepy sexy eyes are piercing as well as pretty and I know you will agree with me when you look at what else he’s been shooting…" Deborah Harry.
The images grab and pull us through haunting streets of eastern Europe, introduces us to a naked woman covered in blood and nearly terrifies us with portraits of humanoid monsters; then exposes us to a beautiful reality filled with forests in autumn, sleeping animals, lightning hitting trees and window lit portraits of his son Mingus whom the book is dedicated to, “To Mingus, love you like the ocean."
The Sun’s Coming Up…Like a Big Bald Head is a remarkable non-linear narrative depicting both personal life and everyday experiences of actor and artist Norman Reedus. It is fast paced, and image after image reveals something new and unexpected; it is a perfect amalgamation of stillness and chaos. In the beginning it seems obvious, like you already knew exactly what you were going to look at, but, like the actor, it reaches greater depth once you move past the first few pages. It has no separation between subject and photographer. He is in the image with his subjects. There is no barrier. It's very sensual and intimate. If I were to place this book into a genre of photography I would say it falls very close to documentary photography. Reedus is documenting his personal experiences and what's going on around him. The nature of the work questions the idea of documentary, and if his life is in cinema (something primarily staged) is it any less documentary? I think not. I really enjoyed the journey I was able to take with Reedus and highly recommend checking out The Sun's coming Up...Like a Big Bald Head.
He needs help.
Hmmm. Not sure.
well it´s a clever idea to make money... nothing more.
from his role in this zombie crap series for infantiles to promoting a book about "dark image" it´s not a big jump.
the images are cappy to be honest but as he has shoot them im sure walking dead fans will buy it.
tad cynical
You sir are just a jealous little man.... No one gives any attention to your sunset pics? No praise for your perfect but oh so boring forests pics? Deal with it.
Quiet weekend then?
Odd comments so far...I think its awesome to see actors that are well known for their on screen presence to be creative off the screen too. Its just as important to me if I enjoy an actors work enough I will attempt to follow his career outside the big name movies and TV shows. Sure his photography work may be odd but its neat to see what they do outside what they are known for day to day. I mean you cant be shocked at the style as it fits his personality and his previous 20 years of acting work. Obviously he is not doing this as promotion or extra money, he is making ridiculous money on the show alone not to mention appearences and advertising for the show. This seems to be a legit way for him to express himself and his photography work to the world rather than banking off of what he is doing with Walking Dead. Good for him.
I think its probably more to do with the fact that if he wasn't famous he wouldn't be here.
what's his flickr?
I'm sure if he wasn't a celebrity, people wouldn't be knocking him so hard here. Anyone that promotes photography and the arts, even if it's "weird", should be commended. If it's not your style, move on and don't be a d-bag.
The really odd thing about this are the weird comments. Not many people reading Fstoppers are into Daido Moriyama or - heaven forbid - Araki, I'm guessing?