SPOTTED: James Franco, fan art collector

James Franco was in town yesterday to promote Memories of Idaho, an art installation presented in collaboration with Gus Van Sant at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The installation is a meditation on Van Sant’s My Private Idaho, featuring a reassemblage of excised scenes and alternate takes from the 1991 film. But while Franco was playing artist at TIFF, it was a 13-year-old fan, Macy Armstrong, who stole the show, with three of her own artistic pieces created in tribute to Franco. Franco spotted the pieces in the crowd at the Memories of Idaho exhibition and proceeded to purchase them from Armstrong. No, we aren’t kidding: Franco asked to purchase a portrait of himself made out of yarn, a collage made from newspaper clippings and a canvas inspired by the poster for 127 Hours created by Armstrong. Franco insisted, “I saw that one on the Internet, someone sent it to me. I wanna buy those.” Armstrong, a mega Franco fan, happily obliged, immediately taking to her Tumblr account to exclaim, “He looked at me, he spoke to me, and I’m pretty sure we mentally got married!”

• James Franco tells teen he wants to buy her fan art [The Canadian Press]

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