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14/2/2007

Face of fashion

National Portrait Gallery, London

Mert Alas, Marcus Piggott, Corinne Day, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi and Mario Sorrenti

Face of Fashion focuses on the portraits of five outstanding fashion photographers from Europe and America: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Corinne Day, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi and Mario Sorrenti. It is the first exhibition of its kind, celebrating the innovation and diversity of current fashion portraiture.

In the contemporary fashion world, models, actors, musicians and designers frequently swap places. The exhibition highlights the relationship between fashion and celebrity and illustrates the extraordinary intimacy that often develops between photographer and subject. The exhibition is curated by Susan Bright and the installation is designed by David Adjaye.

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Mert Alas (b.1971) and Marcus Piggott (b.1970) formed their creative partnership in the late 1990s. Based in London and Ibiza, they are best known for their advertising work for luxury brands and their highly polished, but somewhat uneasy, editorial work for magazines such as Pop, W and Vogue. Their characteristic style is a skilful mix of the old-school glamour of 1930s Hollywood portraiture with a futuristic, synthetic, post-production gloss. What might otherwise be read as simple flattery or a concession to beauty is pushed to appear almost artificial. Often humorous, their work explores stereotypes of female identity through the use of role play and fantasy.

Corinne Day

Corinne Day (b.1965) is a British photographer whose influence on the style and perception of photography in the early 1990s has been immense. A former model and self-taught photographer, she brought a more hard-edged documentary look to fashion image-making. She is known for forming close relationships with many of her sitters (most famously Kate Moss), which have resulted in candid and intimate portraits. Her approach, as illustrated within the fashion magazines of the 1990s, came to be known as 'grunge' and grew into an international style.
Day continues to take photographs for fashion magazines and has worked on international advertising campaigns for designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Gap.

Steven Klein

Steven Klein lives and works in New York. He began his photographic career in the early 1990s with a commission from Dior and is now one of the most sought after and influential photographers working in fashion today. Alongside major campaigns for Dolce and Gabbana, Calvin Klein and Alexander McQueen, his epic narratives appear in magazines such as W, Arena Homme Plus and Vogue. His major editorial portrait collaborations include projects with Madonna, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Tom Ford. Often irreverent and provocative, his images seem to revel in complicating a celebrity's perceived identity rather than re-enforcing it.

Paolo Roversi

Paolo Roversi (b.1947) is Italian-born but lives and works in Paris. He began his career by assisting the fashion photographer Laurence Sackman and has since worked consistently in fashion, both editorial and advertising. From the early 1980s Roversi has used large-format Polaroid film for most of his photographs, both colour and black-and-white. His use of the Polaroid, and his preference for the studio, has resulted in portraits that are both tender and respectful. Informed by a wide knowledge of the history of photography, they are sometimes closer to work of the nineteenth century than contemporary fashion.

Mario Sorrenti

Mario Sorrenti (b.1971) was born in Naples, Italy, but has lived in New York since the age of ten. Self-taught, he comes from a family of photographers and artists. His earliest projects were highly personal black-and-white images assembled in dense diaries. These caught the eye of art director Phil Bicker and led to his first advertising commission with Calvin Klein. His career has featured advertising campaigns for leading fashion houses and beauty brands including Prada and Yves St Laurent and his editorial work is featured in magazines such as W, Vogue and Another Magazine. Sorrenti's photographic vision is underpinned by his interest in the camera as a tool for experimentation and a fascination with the process of making images.

Exhibition Design

The exhibition installation is designed by David Adjaye, one of this year's RIBA Stirling Prize nominees who is recognised as one of the leading UK architects of his generation. The Adjaye Associates studio has undertaken many prestigious commissions including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver and the Stephen Lawrence Education Centre in London. Other clients include The Nobel Peace Centre, Norway; the Frieze Art Fair 2003 to 2005; Idea Stores/London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Iniva/Autograph. http://www.adjaye.com

Advanced booking recommended - Call 0870 013 0703

Individuals: 20 portraits from the Gap Collection

12 February – 28 May 2007
Room 36.

Gap's advertising campaigns have become known for their use of bold and original portrait photography. Coinciding with the Face of Fashion exhibition, this display brings together twenty stunning photographs, which illustrate how portrait photography crosses over into the realm of fashion. The display includes portraits of leading authors, actors and musicians by eminent photographers including Herb Ritts, Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, and Albert Watson.

Image: Kevin Federline 2005 (c) Steven Kline

National Portrait Gallery
st Martin's Place - London
Admission: full price £8 Senior Citizens £7 Other Concessions £6
Opening hours: Open daily 10.00 - 18.00 Late night opening Thursdays and Fridays until 21.00

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