He raises the gun in his hand, aims it and shoots. And out come a few squirts of water.

This darkly humorous life-sized video that strips the superstar bare is part of an ongoing exhibition at the National Museum called Voom Portraits, conceived and directed by renowned American stage auteur Robert Wilson.

The subjects of this exhibition range from A-list celebrity actors such as Robert Downey Jr and Johnny Depp, royalty such as Princess Caroline of Monaco, right down to a regular Joe mechanic and even a humble porcupine.

Wilson, 67, calls it 'a kind of family album of our times'.

Nineteen video portraits, often with minimal movement, are shown on high-definition plasma TV screens. The portraits were commissioned by Voom HD Network, an American high-definition cable channel, and have been touring the world since their premiere in New York last year.

The portraits are accompanied by spoken texts or pieces of music composed by the Who's Who of the music world, such as singer-songwriter Tom Waits and Michael Galasso, who composed the iconic soundtrack for the Wong Kar Wai movie In The Mood For Love.

But what jumps out about the portraits is their stillness. They are looped seamlessly and seem to go on without any beginning, middle or end.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!