Candice BreitzI'm Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen), 2017
‘I'm Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen)’ by Candice Breitz is a 19-channel video installation commissioned by the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal as a tribute to the late singer, poet and cultural icon Leonard Cohen. The work features 18 devoted male fans of Cohen – each over the age of 65 – who were filmed individually performing the entirety of Cohen’s 1988 album ‘I'm Your Man’ a cappella. These solo recordings are presented simultaneously on life-sized monitors, arranged in a semi-circle that suggests both a choir and an intimate gathering. A nineteenth channel features backing vocals performed by the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir, referencing Cohen’s Jewish heritage and deep spiritual roots.
The installation foregrounds the vulnerability and intimacy of fandom, particularly as it is expressed by older men, a demographic rarely centred in contemporary pop culture. Stripped of musical accompaniment, the fans' voices carry the weight of age, memory and longing, allowing Cohen’s lyrics to resonate in new and unexpected ways. The absence of Cohen himself from the installation shifts focus away from the spectacle of celebrity and toward the emotional landscapes of those who have lived with and through his music. ‘I'm Your Man’ becomes both a collective act of tribute and a meditation on ageing, masculinity, devotion and the profound ways in which a cultural figure can shape personal identity over a lifetime
