MARKED: Franco Carves Brad Renfro's Name into His Arm for Art!

The L.A. Times reports on an art installation produced for this year's Venice Biennale featuring contributions from James Franco, Douglas Gordon, Harmony Korine, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Ed Ruscha and Aaron Young. The installation is based around James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause.


Franco, who had a hand in the other artists’ projects, also made work for this show in homage to the actor Brad Renfro, who died in 2008 at age 25 of a heroin overdose. He had Renfro’s name carved into his right arm with a switchblade, documenting the carving in photography and film. (The carving itself could be seen as one of the show’s more permanent artworks.)

Above, Franco and Renfro in a detail from a still from the 2002 film, Deuces Wild.