Brian Griffin: Capitalist Realism opens today at Steven Kasher Gallery
//Rush Hour London Bridge, London, 1974. Vintage gelatin silver print, printed c. 1974 12 x 16in//
//Martin, Elsynge Road, Wandsworth, London, 1977. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016 20 x 16in//
It’s exciting to note the opening today of photographer Brian Griffin’s first US solo show, Capitalist Realism at New York’s Steven Kasher Gallery.
Correctly identified as “one of Britain’s most influential photographers”, BG is a favourite of mine, not just because he is a true artist but also a hell of a fella. His assistance and advice when I put together my monograph of his compadre, the late graphic designer Barney Bubbles, was invaluable.
//Traffic Island, Wandsworth, London, 1977. Vintage gelatin silver print, printed c. 1977. 16 x 20in//
//Eric Foster, Steel Erector, Broadgate, City of London, 1987. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016. 20 x 16in//
//London By Night #22, London, 1986. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016. 20 x 24in//
As the show literature points out, BG “turned the table on commercial assignment portraiture with a style all his own”. This is as true of the photographs he took of such performers as Elvis Costello and Iggy Pop as of those of models and business executives for Management Today magazine and his towering book collaborations with Bubbles, Copyright 1978 and Power.
//A Broken Frame, England, 1982. Archival pigment print, printed January 2016 24 x 20 in//
//Bureaucracy, London, 1987. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016. 20 x 16in//
//Alain Chevalier, Chairman of Moet et Chandon, Epernay, France , 1987. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016. 20 x 16in//
BG continues to work at a prodigious rate, his preoccupation with power in all its forms undimmed, and has exhibited around the world with photography held in the permanent collections of major art institutions.
Capitalist Realism – which concentrates on photography made in the Thatcher years of 1979-90 – runs until April 9.
More details here.
Read how a BG photograph connects actor Simon Callow to punk-rocker Johnny Moped here.