Rémi Noël's "Lonely Batman" series answers a lot of questions that until now have gone unaddressed. What if Batman relocated from the bustling city of Gotham to the vast expanses of Texas? What if our favorite masked superhero went from solving crimes to hopping between motels and strip clubs sprinkled throughout the open roads? And lastly, what if Batman was suddenly very, very small?
These are the queries addressed in Noël's unlikely take on Bruce Wayne's alter ego. Using silver film, the photographer creates a quiet, black-and-white series of banal yet surprisingly poetic moments that come with life on the road... and from being action-figure-size. Whether walking down a winding road as the sun sets or getting caught in a can of baked beans, this Texas Batman sure seems to prefer contemplation over crime fighting.
Noël's interest in America's starkest shapes of beauty began years ago. According to his artist statement, "Though a less-than-stellar student in geography, French photographer Rémi Noël has been obsessed with the 'America' of Jack Kerouac, Edward Hopper and Robert Frank since his early school years."
The ghosts of Americana artists past are certainly visible in Batman's lovely life as a vagrant. Who knew Batman was such a misanthrope?
