Richard Boll

Category Archives: Artists

Discovering the experimental fine art photography of Harry Callahan: A Master of Photographic Experimentation

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Posted by Richard Boll on 5th June 2025 – 1:41 pm
Filed under Artists, Conceptual Photography, Experimental Photography, Fine Art Photography, Harry Callahan

I was introduced to the experimental fine art photography of Harry Callahan at Edinburgh College of art in 1996. His quiet yet profound approach to image-making stood out to me, particularly his ability to transform everyday subjects into deeply personal, abstract, and poetic compositions. His relentless experimentation with light, form, and technique challenged my understanding of what photography could be.

Callahan was not a photographer who sought fame or recognition; rather, he worked diligently and privately, refining his craft and allowing his images to speak for themselves. His work is often described as introspective and deeply personal, offering a sense of intimacy that is rare in photography. Despite his experimental nature, there is a quiet consistency throughout his body of work,a sense of deliberate observation and sensitivity to his surroundings.

Eleanor, Chicago, 1951, Harry Callahan.

Eleanor, Chicago, 1951, Harry Callahan

Harry Callahan’s Unique Vision

Callahan’s images are deceptively simple. Whether photographing his wife Eleanor, urban architecture, or natural landscapes, he approached each subject with a unique sensitivity to light and structure. His compositions often teetered between realism and abstraction, demonstrating a masterful command of line, shadow, and negative space. He worked extensively in black and white, creating striking contrasts and high-key images that emphasised form over detail. He also experimented with colour, particularly in his later years, using vibrant hues to create abstract, painterly compositions.

An example of colour experimental photography by Harry Callahan.

Abstraction, 1943 to 1947, Harry-Callahan

One of Callahan’s defining qualities as a photographer was his ability to find beauty in the everyday. A street scene, a shadow cast across a wall, or a lone figure walking through the city, these seemingly ordinary subjects became extraordinary through his lens. He had an uncanny ability to isolate elements of a scene, distilling them into their purest visual form. This reductionist approach set him apart from many of his contemporaries and solidified his reputation as a master of photographic abstraction.

Another aspect of his work that I find particularly inspiring is his dedication to pushing the boundaries of experimental fine art photography. Unlike many photographers who develop a signature style and stick with it, Callahan was constantly evolving, pushing the boundaries of what photography could achieve. He explored double and triple exposures, high-contrast prints, and unconventional framing techniques. His willingness to take risks and embrace imperfection resulted in images that feel both deliberate and spontaneous.

Multiple Exposure Trees, Chicago, 1956, Harry Callahan

Multiple Exposure Trees, Chicago, 1956, Harry Callahan

The Influence of His Personal Projects

I continue to be inspired by the very personal nature of Callahan’s images. His most famous series features his wife, Eleanor, whom he photographed over decades in intimate, strikingly composed portraits. These images speak to his belief that photography was not just about documenting the external world, but about expressing something deeply internal.

Eleanor was Callahan’s most enduring subject. She appears in countless photographs, sometimes nude, sometimes surrounded by natural landscapes, sometimes silhouetted against a city skyline. There is an undeniable tenderness in these portraits, a reflection of the deep bond between photographer and subject. Through his lens, Eleanor became more than just a muse; she became a symbol of love, devotion, and the passage of time.

Beyond his portraits of Eleanor, Callahan also created fascinating images of urban landscapes, particularly in cities like Chicago, where he lived and worked for many years. His street photography was often minimalist, capturing solitary figures moving through vast spaces. These images, though devoid of overt emotion, possess a haunting quality, evoking themes of isolation and transience.

His nature photography, on the other hand, reveals a different side of his artistic vision. Unlike the stark lines and geometric compositions of his cityscapes, his landscapes are fluid and organic, often blurring the line between reality and abstraction. His multiple-exposure photographs of trees, for example, transform simple natural forms into intricate, layered patterns, reminiscent of delicate ink drawings.

The life of Harry Callahan

Harry Morey Callahan was born on October 22, 1912, in Detroit, Michigan. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not formally study photography. He initially pursued a degree in engineering at Michigan State University but dropped out to take a job at Chrysler Motors. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that he discovered his passion for photography.

Callahan was largely self-taught, learning the technical aspects of the medium through trial and error. His early inspiration came from Ansel Adams, whose work he encountered during a lecture in 1941. Adams’s precise, methodical approach to photography left a deep impression on Callahan, encouraging him to pursue his craft more seriously. He later credited László Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian artist and teacher at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, as another key influence.
Callahan’s career took off when he joined the Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago, formerly known as the New Bauhaus, as both a student and, later, a faculty member. The Bauhaus philosophy emphasised experimentation and pushing the boundaries of artistic disciplines, which aligned perfectly with Callahan’s own approach to photography.

In 1961, he accepted a teaching position at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he would remain until his retirement in 1977. Throughout his tenure, he influenced countless students, encouraging them to explore their own artistic voices rather than conforming to conventional photographic techniques. Despite his quiet and reserved nature, he was widely respected as an educator and mentor.

Although Callahan never sought commercial success, his work eventually gained widespread recognition. He represented the United States at the Venice Biennial in 1978, and his photographs were exhibited in major museums, including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 1996, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, one of the highest honors given to American artists.
Callahan passed away on March 15, 1999, leaving behind a vast and diverse body of work that continues to inspire photographers today.

Street Scene with Left Turn Only Sign, 1950 to 1960, Harry Callahan

Street Scene with Left Turn Only Sign, 1950 to 1960, Harry Callahan

Callahan’s Legacy and the Influence of his experimental fine art photography

Callahan’s ability to blend personal expression with experimental fine art photography has had a profound impact on generations of photographers. His images remind us that great photography does not require grand or elaborate subjects, rather, it is about seeing the world with fresh eyes and finding meaning in the ordinary.

His work also serves as a reminder of the importance of patience and discipline in artistic practice. Unlike many photographers who chase fleeting trends, Callahan remained dedicated to his own vision, refining and evolving his approach over decades. His commitment to daily shooting, often taking a roll of film every day, regardless of external circumstances, demonstrates the power of consistency and perseverance in creative work.

Today, as I navigate my own photographic journey, I find myself returning to Callahan’s images time and time again. Some of my personal fine art projects that are influenced to some extent by Harry Callahan’s photography can be seen here. His ability to balance abstraction with emotion, simplicity with depth, continues to shape my perspective on photography. Whether capturing a fleeting moment on the street or composing a more deliberate, introspective portrait, his work reminds me that photography is not just about what we see, it’s about how we see.

For those interested in exploring Callahan’s work further, I highly recommend visiting collections at institutions such as The Art Institute of Chicago or The Museum of Modern Art in New York. His photographs remain a testament to the enduring power of simplicity, vision, and unwavering dedication to both art and craft.

The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control

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Posted by Richard Boll on 25th September 2024 – 11:35 am
Filed under Artists, Conceptual Photography, Editorial Photography, Environmental Portrait, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Limited Edition Prints, Portrait Photography

The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control

I’ve been working on my latest project Expression: Portraits of Artists for two years but it’s been an idea I’ve been exploring creatively for the last decade.

The project features visually striking photographic portraits of celebrated contemporary artists: Yarli Allison, Rana Begum, Gordon Cheung, Adam Chodzko, Ann Christopher, Marie Harnett, Bruce McLean, Cornelia Parker, and Gavin Turk. Also featured are Sussex-based artists Stig Evans, Richard Graville, James William Murray, and Jake Wood-Evans. The ongoing project involves elements of unique collaboration with many of the artists involved, inviting each artist to make their mark on the final piece and truly make the portrait their own.

The aim of the project is to celebrate the individuality and artistry of these talented people. Often artists are known for their works, but I wanted to tell the story of the people behind the artworks and capture their creative process.

With traditional approaches to portraiture, the sitter is typically invited to a photographer’s studio and the photographer directs the shoot. With this project however, it’s been more of a two-way dialogue with each artist about how they would like to be photographed, and inviting them to collaborate on the portraits by relinquishing creative control. This has challenged my standard process and opened my eyes to what that creative collaboration could achieve.

Yarli Allison (she/they) (b.1988) is a Canadian-born, Hong Kongese art-worker based between the UK and Paris with an interdisciplinary approach that traverses sculpture, installation, CGI (VR/AR/3D modeling/game), moving images, drawings, poetry, tattooing, and performances. This portrait was taken at her studio in London and she is photographed wearing one of her wearable pieces which references her sculptural and performative works. In this image, we worked together to create the mise-en-scène featuring a series of props, clothing, and headgear.

A portrait of the artist Yarli Allison by Richard Boll. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control is Richard's on-going project.

Gordon Cheung, born 1975 in London to Chinese parents, has developed an innovative approach to making art, which blurs virtual and actual reality to reflect on the existential questions of what it means to be human in civilisations with histories written by victors. Cheung raises questions and critiques the effects of global capitalism, and its underlying mechanisms of power on our perception of identity, territory, and sense of belonging. These narratives are refracted through the prisms of culture, mythology, religion, and politics into dreamlike spaces of urban surreal worlds that are rooted in his in-between identity. I took this portrait at Cheung’s London studio. During post-production, Cheung added a collaborative element – he applied his signature digital glitch – an algorithmic blur that distorts the pixels – inviting the viewer to question time, space, and reality.

A portrait of Gordon Cheung taken by Richard Boll and digital glitch applied by Gordon Cheung. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control.

Stig Evans (b.1964) is a painter and public artist based in Brighton. Evans’ work investigates concepts of visibility and perception. He uses colour to explore our visual acuity, how we perceive it, respond to it, represent it, and by its historical, chemical and physical and immaterial nature. He paints with an airbrush, building up many layers of sprayed colour creating chromatic colour experiences where boundaries, borders and chroma subtly move and shift in front of the eye. I shot this portrait on black and white film using a Hasselblad medium format camera. The background of antique pigment bottles was constructed by Evans in his Brighton studio. I hand-produced the silver gelatine fibre print in a darkroom which was then hand-coloured by Evans. He also applied 21,915 “strikes” in pencil, each strike representing a day of his life.

A portrait of the artist Stig Evans by Richard Boll. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control, Richard's ongoing project.

Jake Wood-Evans (b. 1980) is also based in Sussex. In an age dominated by screens and pixelated images, Jake Wood-Evans’ work feels like a welcome antidote. Drawing on the legacies of Old Masters, his intention is to capture the essence of these historic works without replicating them, depicting familiar, yet obscured subject matter. Creating ethereal images that are both unsettling and beautiful, Wood-Evans’ powerful use of light emerges from a loose and instinctive application of paint. His oil paintings shimmer with luminous and intense layers of colour as bold marks, dripping oils and scored surfaces sit in company with fine, delicate detail. The portraits of Wood-Evans were shot on black and white film using an Ebony 5×4” large format camera in Sussex studio. I hand-printed silver gelatine fibre prints which were then left on the floor of Wood-Evans’ studio for several months. They collected paint marks, drips, and textures from the artist at work. The collaborative portraits explore aspects of time as the prints develop their own history of marks.

A diptych of portraits of the painter Jake Wood-Evans by the photographer Richard Boll

Gavin Turk (b.1967) is a British-born, internationally renowned artist, who lives and works in London. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icons, and the use of rubbish in art. Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity, and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and ontological questioning. Turk was included in several YBA exhibitions and his work is held within public and private collections worldwide, including the TATE, Museum of Modern Art New York, Museum MMK Für Moderne Kunst, Musée Magritte Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I shot this performance-style portrait of Turk in his London studio as he writes his signature in the air. It pays homage to Turk’s earlier works including Multiple Signature (1999) and Jazzz Signature (2009), while referencing Gjon Mili’s photographs of Picasso drawing with light, taken in 1949. The use of red and blue references Turk’s pieces I (2015) and That (2015).

A portrait of Gavin Turk writing his signature by Richard Boll.

Bruce McLean (b. 1944) is an acclaimed Scottish sculptor, filmmaker, and painter. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and at Saint Martin’s School of Art, where he and others rebelled against what appeared to be the formalist academicism of his teachers. In 1965, he abandoned conventional studio production in favour of impermanent sculptures using materials such as water, along with performances of a generally satirical nature directed against the art world. From the mid-1970s, McLean turned increasingly to painting, sculpture, and film work and won the John Moores Painting Prize in 1985. This collaborative portrait is really significant to me as it initiated the idea for the Expression project. The blank canvases seen in the background inspired the idea to add collaborative elements and I invited McLean to apply paint onto the print. McLean added a painting of a sculpture of a jug to the final photographic print. The portrait was shot on a Hasselblad medium format camera using available daylight.

Bruce McLean in his London studio photographed by Richard Boll.

Richard Boll’s photography exhibition Expression: Portraits of Artists will open on the 4th of October at The Regency Town House in Brighton & Hove.

Limited edition prints of the images in the show will be available from the 4th of October at richardboll.art

Event details:
Location: The Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Brighton and Hove, BN3 1

Exhibition opening times: 
Tuesday – Friday 11am – 4pm

Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm

Monday closed

Artist Talk: Saturday 12th October 3pm. Tickets are free but limited: Eventbrite

About Photo Fringe

The biennial, open-platform Photo Fringe festival runs from the 4th of October to the 14th of November with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across its home city of Brighton & Hove and along the south coast from Newhaven to Portsmouth. The programme presents a vibrant mix of lens-based work from emerging practitioners and well-established names, in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations, and other extraordinary spaces. photofringe.org

Photography Exhibition: “Expression: Portraits of Artists” by Richard Boll

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Posted by Richard Boll on 29th August 2024 – 4:23 pm
Filed under Artists, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Limited Edition Prints, Portrait Photography

I’m excited to announce that my show, Expression: Portraits of Artists will open on the 4th of October at The Regency Town House in Brighton & Hove. The show brings together visually striking portraits of thirteen celebrated contemporary artists: Yarli Allison, Rana Begum, Gordon Cheung, Adam Chodzko, Ann Christopher, Marie Harnett, Bruce McLean, Cornelia Parker, and Gavin Turk. Also featured are Sussex-based artists Stig Evans, Richard Graville, James William Murray, and Jake Wood-Evans. The ongoing project, commenced in 2022, involves a level of unique collaboration with some of the artists involved. These elements infuse the portraits with a blend of creative input, resulting in a dynamic and expressive visual narrative.

Limited editioned prints of the images in the show will be available from the 4th of October at richardboll.art

A close up portrait of the artist Marie Harnett drawing in a cafe in London. Photo by Richard Boll.

Exhibition dates: Friday, 4th October – Sunday, 13th October
Location: The Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Brighton & Hove, BN3 1EH
Exhibition opening times:
Tuesday – Friday 11am – 4pm
Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm
Monday closed

Special Event: Artist Talk
 On Saturday, 12th October at 3:00 PM

I’ll be giving a talk about the creative process behind the portraits, the collaborative nature of the project, and the broader themes of artistry and identity explored in the exhibition. Spaces are free but limited, so please RSVP for the Artist Talk here: EventbritePortrait of the artist Gavin Turk facing away from the camera in his London studio. Photo by Richard Boll.

This exhibition is part of the 2024 Brighton Photo Fringe festival taking place in venues across the city throughout October.

A colourful portrait of the artist Rana Begum in her home in London. Photo by Richard Boll.

 

I’m very grateful to the following suppliers for their help and support in creating work for the show.
Spectrum Photographic have printed my photographs for many years and I can strongly recommend them both for the exceptionally high standard of printing and also for their fantastic customer service.

I hand-printed several of the black and white prints in the show in the fantastic 71 Darkroom in Lewes. Run by the photographer Torz Dallison, excellent black and white printing facilities are available for small, medium, and large formats.

Many of the prints in the exhibition were framed at The Framing Workshop in Hove. I can wholeheartedly recommend their great customer service and very high standards of workmanship.

About Photo Fringe
The biennial, open-platform Photo Fringe festival runs from the 4th of October to the 14th of November with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across its home city of Brighton & Hove and along the south coast from Newhaven to Portsmouth. The programme presents a vibrant mix of lens-based work from emerging practitioners and well-established names, in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations, and other extraordinary spaces.
photofringe.org
Follow @photofringe #photofringe2024

UK Visual Artist Portraits 2 of 4: Adam Chodzko – Conceptual media artist, YBA and Saatchi 2007 ‘Sensation’ Exhibitor

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Posted by Richard Boll on 6th December 2022 – 1:42 pm
Filed under Artists, Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Location Photography, Photography Award, Portrait Photography

UK Visual Artist Portrait Series

When I first became interested in photography and started learning about well-known artists and photographers I appreciated seeing portraits of them taken by other photographers. Initially, I might not have known who these people were, but an interesting portrait can tell a visual story and open a window into that person’s world. I found it really intriguing and was curious about why that person had been photographed in a particular way. I decided to continue this rich photographic tradition, by taking a series of photographs of well-known visual artists, currently working in the UK.

Adam Chodzko

The second set of images in this series features Adam Chodzko, a Kent-based, highly acclaimed conceptual artist working across a wide range of media, including video, installation, photography, and performance, and considered to be one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). The YBAs are a group of visual artists who are noted for shock tactics, the use of throwaway materials, and wild living. They attracted considerable media coverage and dominated British art during the ‘Cool Britannia’ scene of the 90s. Chodzko’s art relies on the viewer’s imagination and personal experience to create the meaning behind his work. Using elements of science fiction, he explores the space between documentary and fantasy, conceptualism, and surrealism. His art explores the interactions and possibilities of human behaviour by investigating the space of consciousness between how we are and what we might be.

Spotted by the art collector Charles Saatchi, he was invited to take part in ‘Sensation’, the highly controversial, contemporary art exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) in 1997. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, this significant exhibition drew a lot of media attention at the time and showcased work by 42 different artists, including Gavin Turk, Damien Hirst, and Tracey Emin.

The photographic concept

This time, the approach was slightly different from the previous Gavin Turk shoot, in that Adam doesn’t work out of a traditional studio. I couldn’t take shots of him working in a studio, so we focused purely on portraits. Chodzko was really good at engaging with my ideas and very clear about what would suit him. I really enjoyed the collaborative elements of this project, born from a combination of both our ideas and an open, creative discussion, that generated the final images.

1. Collaboration, crossover, and a portrait prize

The idea I had for this portrait was Chodzko being in the countryside and somehow connected with water. He then took my idea and suggested wading around in a pond holding recording equipment, because that’s the sort of thing he might do for his work. An extra element of this shot was the sound clip of the space that was produced during the shoot. You not only hear countryside sounds like birds and mosquitoes, but as we were close to a road, you also hear cars, a car stereo and a dog barking. There’s an interesting crossover between the urban and rural spaces. I requested this sound clip from the artist as it might be suitable for an exhibition of these portraits in the future. I’m pleased to report that this image went on to win third prize in the Kuala Lumpur Portrait Awards and was exhibited in Malaysia and Japan. It was great to get this extra element of exposure for this portrait.

a photographic portrait of the conceptual artist adam chodzko in a pond copyright richard boll

2. Wasteland in the future?

This portrait was inspired by ‘A Hunting Scene’ (1992) by Canadian photographer Jeff Wall. Wall’s photo is of two men walking into a wasteland from a road and they’re both carrying guns. It’s an image that has always stuck in my mind and Adam said that it was a photograph that he’d always liked. Chodzko suggested we put an alternative spin on it. Instead of carrying guns or an axe, he tied white bedsheets together and dragged them around in this waste ground off a main road between a car park and scrubland. There’s a feeling of an in-between, non-space and I hope that it’s intriguing for the viewer in that what has happened in the image is ambiguous and is left up to the viewers’ imagination.

the artist adam chodzko dragging a white sheet in whitstable kent copyright richard boll

3. Whitstable in a (Wet)Suit

Another water-themed portrait was shot in the sea off the beach at Whitstable, where Chodzko lives and works. The idea surrounding this image was that the viewer can imagine that he’s just arrived on the beach and traveled from somewhere else, perhaps the strip of land that can be seen behind him across the water. Again, it’s left up to the viewer to imagine what the back story of this image might be.

a portrait of the artist adam chodzko in the sea in whitstable kent copyright richard boll

Watch this space for features on 2 more visual artists, currently working in the UK that I’ve also photographed, Gordon Cheung and Jake Wood-Evans. Future plans include an extensive exhibition of the complete UK Visual Artist Portrait Photography Series.

Discover more about Adam Chodzko and his work by visiting his website and reading about the controversial 1997 ‘Sensation’ exhibition.

My journey from Film to Digital Photography

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Posted by Richard Boll on 14th October 2022 – 4:47 pm
Filed under Artists, Fine Art Photography, Photography career, Photography education

Producing black and white prints in a darkroom at school fuelled my passion for photography. As corny as it sounds, seeing the images appear and develop in the tray of developer is a magical and spellbinding experience.

Differences between Film & Digital

What I think can be missing when working with digital is the tactile, hands-on element you get working with photographic film. The process allows you to consider every element very carefully, particularly focus, exposure and composition. Learning how to load the film into tanks in complete darkness, mixing all the chemistry correctly and to the right temperature to develop the film and produce negatives, is a meditative and thoughtful process. Most professional photographers find that the process isn’t practical however in the commercial world. Digital is the way forward as it’s far more efficient than processing film, but I do miss the creative and unique element that’s not always carried over into digital photography.

With film, you might wait days, or even weeks if you’re travelling, before you find out how the images turned out. With digital, you can check the images that you produce immediately. The ability to do this is very convenient but you lose that element of extra concentration applied to shooting film that I think can be beneficial to the end result.

a 5x4 large format camera on a tripod. From film to digital photography by Richard Boll

My journey to digital photography

When I was studying photography in the late 90s, I was taught purely on film and then I went on to teach people on film myself. Digital was starting to become more prevalent whilst I was teaching and I started to demonstrate digital cameras to my students. In those days, we didn’t have significant digital printers like photography departments would have now. I was largely self-taught when it came to digital. When I became a commercial photographer, I opted to go digital straightaway. I invested £6k in my first camera, plus more for the lenses and lighting equipment. I taught myself about the different file types, researching as much as I could and studying Photoshop textbooks to bring me up to speed.

I still use techniques today that I picked up then. Especially the shortcuts, such as cropping an image to the right size, setting up DPI (dots per inch) correctly for a printed image, manipulating images i.e. dodging (taking light away) and burning (applying additional light),
adjusting and converting colour and contrast, etc. There are certain elements that translate from film to digital. For example, a lot of the language that’s used for Photoshop tools references darkroom principles and processes.

Advantages of digital photography

One of the advantages of digital is an efficient workflow, such as bulk processing of images. You can apply the same adjustments to 500 images in one go, for example, rather than changing every single one as you go along. Even if you were a skilled darkroom technician, it’d be hard to make every print identical. Whereas, once you have the digital file you can make multiple identical prints.

Storage archiving is another significant benefit of working with digital. Back in the day, you would have had several filing cabinets full of negatives that you’d have to create a system for, and it’d be difficult to go back and find a negative that you shot 20 years ago. Nowadays, if a client asks for a particular image, you can easily search a large drive and find the image that you want in seconds, rather than hours.

Another significant difference between film and digital is the cost attached to film. You’re very aware when you’re shooting film that it’s costing you money. Each exposure has the cost of not just the film but also the processing costs.
I’m certainly not taking away the huge advantages of digital, which I very much appreciate day to day in my working life. But processing film will always hold a special place for me. There may be an element of nostalgia but whenever I get the rare opportunity to produce black and white prints, I still feel the same excitement today that I had at school all those years ago.

Read more about ‘How I started my career as a professional photographer’.

UK Visual Artist Photographic Portraits 1 of 4: Gavin Turk – artist and sculptor, YBA and Saatchi ‘Sensation’ Exhibitor

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Posted by Richard Boll on 4th October 2022 – 3:31 pm
Filed under Artists, Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Gavin Turk, London, Portrait Photography

UK Visual Artist Portrait Series

When I initially developed an interest in photography and started learning about well-known artists and photographers, I appreciated seeing photographic portraits of them in my research. Even though I didn’t know who these people were at the time, an interesting portrait can tell a visual story and open a window into that person’s world. I found it very intriguing and was curious about why that person had been photographed in a particular way. I recently decided that I’d like to continue this rich photographic tradition by taking a series of photographs of well-known visual artists currently working in the UK.

Gavin Turk

The first set of images in this series features Gavin Turk, a British-born, world-renowned international artist, and one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). The YBAs were a group of visual artists who were noted for shock tactics, use of throwaway materials, and often controversial works of art. They attracted considerable media coverage and dominated British art during the ‘Cool Britannia’ scene of the 90s.

Turk’s work deals with issues of authorship, authenticity, and identity. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon, and the use of rubbish in art. Spotted by the art collector Charles Saatchi, he was invited to take part in ‘Sensation’, the highly controversial contemporary art exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) in 1997. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, this significant exhibition drew a lot of media attention at the time and showcased work by 42 different artists, including Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

On the day of the shoot, I spent around three hours at Gavin’s studio in East London. The original concept that I had for this visual artist series was to take a range of photographs with four distinct elements depicting images of the artist and their work: behind-the-scenes studio shots, details referencing their work and processes, the artist at work (where possible) and more formal photographic portraits.

A photographic portrait of the british artist gavin turk with his signature written in the air

This image is a reference to Turk’s work on identity and the frequent use of signatures in his work and also mimics a project carried out by the photographer Gjon Mili, who photographed Picasso drawing in the air with a torch. The effect of this portrait was created by taking a long exposure of Gavin writing his name in the air with a torch and then firing a flash to expose the room in which the photograph was taken.

A double black and white photographic portrait of the artist gavin turk

This double portrait combines two photographic portraits taken in quick succession and references Turk’s artwork: ‘Portrait of something that I’ll never really see’ (1997), a self-portrait of the artist from the neck up with his eyes closed against a blank background.

An interior photograph of the studio of british artist gavin turk

A photograph of collected items on the shelves in the studio of gavin turk

These photographs of the interior of Turk’s studio provide an insight into the artist’s work and his influences. I’d like to thank Gavin for being so open to my ideas and generous with his time on the day of the shoot. It was a particular pleasure for me both to meet him and to take portraits of him. It’s also been great to see some of the images I’ve taken being shared on the artists’ website and social media platforms.

Watch this space for features on 3 more visual artists, currently working in the UK that I’ve also photographed, namely Adam Chodzko, Gordon Cheung, and Jake Wood-Evans. Future plans include an exhibition of the complete series of portraits of visual artists working in the UK today.

Discover more about Gavin Turk and his work by visiting his website and read about the controversial 1997 ‘Sensation’ exhibition here. More of my photographic portraiture can be seen here.

 

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