Joe Coleman's Carnival

Night Flight takes you for an exclusive look inside "Joe Coleman’s Carnival," the artist’s curated exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch Projects in New York City. Filmed on-site in June 2025, this special hour-long presentation follows Coleman as he personally guides Night Flight through the gallery, revealing works that directly connect him to the carnival world, including his portrait of Tod Browning (Freaks) and a world-renowned collection from sideshow legend Johnny Eck, all culminating in his magnum opus: a life-size biographical portrait of his wife and muse, Whitney Ward. “I believe that the carnival is a kind of profane, holy place,” Coleman says, “where the private desires, fantasies, and fears of a society are given uninhibited free expression.”

Directed by Stuart S. Shapiro