I'm Your Man - A Portrait of Leonard Cohen

I’m Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen) 2017 is arguably the most ambitious multi-channel video portrait by acclaimed South African artist Candice Breitz. It was originally commissioned by Musée d’art contemporain in Montréal, Leonard Cohen’s hometown for an exhibition celebrating his life and work.

Leonard Cohen who was known as a poet as much as a musician died at age 82 on 11 November 2016. He is known as the writer of quintessential ballads, ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Suzanne’ and ‘Bird on a Wire’, with a career spanning from the 1960s until literally his last moment. Upon his death, the city of Montreal reclaimed him as something of a civic saint.

Breitz’s spectacular and highly personal video portrait brings together a community of ardent Leonard Cohen fans from his hometown, each of whom has cherished Cohen’s music for over half a century, to pay posthumous tribute to the late legend.

Experience this moving and immersive exhibition, currently showing on Level 2 at the Gallery.

Artwork credit:

Candice Breitz, I’m Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen), 2017
19-channel video installation, colour, sound, 40:43 min, looped, 18 suspended monitors and one single-channel projection
Shot at Phi Centre, Montréal, May-June 2017
Commissioned by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki gift of the Friends of Auckland Art Gallery, 2020