London Diaries Part 2 - The Photographer's Gallery and Rough Trade
The Photographer's Gallery is one of the galleries I have to visit every time I'm in London. Three big American names that go beyond the world of photography are featured this month, David Lynch, Andy Warhol and William S. Burroughs.
David Lynch - The Factory Photographs
The Factory Photographs by David Lynch, which also includes a sound piece composed by him took us on a journey to desolate locations in Germany, Poland, New York, New Jersey and England.
All the photographs were taken between 1980 and 2000, depicting "the labyrinthine passages, detritus and decay of these man-made structures – haunting cathedrals of a bygone industrial era slowly being taken over by nature".
"I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man-made waste." David Lynch
© Hind Mezaina
David Lynch, Untitled (England), late 1980s early 1990s
David Lynch, Untitled (Lodz), 2000
Photos by David Lynch via The Photographer's Gallery
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Andy Warhol - Photographs 1976-1987
© Hind Mezaina
The Andy Warhol Photographs in this exhibition include work I have not seen before. I really liked the stitched series which reminded me of photos taken with the Lomography Actionsampler camera, only Warhol's stitched photos are literally stitched together with a sewing machine.
"I told them I didn't believe in art, that I believed in photography." Andy Warhol
Despite his fame as a painter, filmmaker and colourist, Andy Warhol’s (1928 – 1987) use of photographic imagery permeates his practice. However, it was only later in his life, when acquainted with the compact cameras of the 1970s that he focused on photography in its own right.
Tendencies and patterns emerge across both the singular and stitched works that reveal photography to be at the centre of Warhol’s thinking, looking and making.
Warhol’s interest in serial and repeated imagery, seen throughout his work, is brought to play through his striking series of ‘stitched’ photographs, creating over 500 between 1982 and his death in 1987. These feature identical images arranged in grid form, stitched together with a sewing machine.
Using 35mm black and white film, Warhol carried a camera with him most of the time – taking up to 36 frames a day. Capturing everyday details, people, street scenes, celebrity parties, interiors, cityscapes and signage his subjects all reflect the artist’s characteristic indifference to hierarchy.
William S. Burroughs - Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs
Unknown Photographer, Burroughs in the Villa Mouniria Garden, Tangier, © Estate of William S. Burroughs
Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs is an insightful look at Burroughs' life as a photographer which wasn't something we associated him with. Turns out he was a very active photographer and the exhibition includes many series he worked on.
William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) was one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Despite his prolific achievements as a novelist, essayist, spoken word performer and painter, Burroughs’ work as a photographer is rarely acknowledged.
Coinciding with the centenary of Burroughs’ birth, Taking Shots will be the first exhibition worldwide to focus on Burroughs’ vast photographic oeuvre and offers new and important insights into his artistic and creative processes.
Burroughs’ photographs, striking in their self-containment, lack any reference to other practitioners or genres. While they can be gathered into categories of street scenes, still lifes, collage, radio towers, people – his dynamic approach to image making sits outside of any canonical structure.
I drifted along taking shots when I could score.
I ended up hooked. (William S. Burroughs, Junky)
Here's a video featuring the curators of the show discussing Burroughs' photography.
Patricia Allmer and John Sears, the curators of Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs, talk about the man and the genesis of this exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery. Despite his prolific achievements as a novelist, essayist, spoken word performer and painter, Burroughs’ work as a photographer is rarely acknowledged.
Coinciding with the centenary of Burroughs’ birth, Taking Shots will be the first exhibition worldwide to focus on Burroughs’ vast photographic oeuvre and offers new and important insights into his artistic and creative processes.
Maximo Park at Rough Trade
Later in the evening, I went to see Maximo Park playing in Rough Trade (East). It was to promote the launch of their new album, Too Much Information.
It was a fun gig, and lead singer Paul Smith is awkwardly charming and funny on stage, I quite enjoyed his banter on stage. Someone who attended the gig posted the first few minutes of the show online.
The short gig which lasted for was around 40 minutes long ended with a song about going to the movies, "Where We're Going".
A band after my heart.