Leigh Bowery Looks:Photographs by Fergus Greer 1988-1994: Photographs by Fergus Greer 1988-1994

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This book is the definitive and indispensable guide to the unique looks designed and, in these photographs, worn by Leigh Bowery. One of Britain's most heroically ambitious yet underappreciated designers and performance artists, Bowery remains an inspiration to many contemporary fashion designers, though few are willing to admit it. In Leigh Bowery Looks you can see why: it contains more than 300 previously unpublished photographs of Bowery, an extraordinary body of work that was the outcome of his collaboration with British photographer Fergus Greer between 1988 and 1994, the year of Bowery's death. Leigh Bowery was a performance artist, fashion designer, night-club sensation, art object, aspiring pop-star and, above all, an icon whose influence traversed the music, art, film and fashion worlds. Perhaps he is best-known for his role as the muse and nude model for some of Lucian Freud's most famous paintings; ironic for the man who was infamous for his costumes. Bowery arrived in London in 1980 from Sunshine, Australia, collaborated notoriously with the dancer Michael Clark, was proprietor of the infamous 1980s nightclub Taboo. In the 1990s, Leigh Bowery created performances which both delighted and outraged audiences in New York, London and Tokyo, later incorporating his pop group Minty. Leigh Bowery has already been the subject of a monograph previously published by Violette Editions and of a biography by author Sue Tilley. A feature film based on Sue Tilley's book is now in production, as is a documentary by New York film director Charles Atlas.

Reviews

'Leigh Bowery was clearly one of the most eye-poppingly extraordinary figures of our times.' - The Daily Telegraph; 'Aghast at what first appears to be ugly and crude, we are finally overwhelmed by Bowery's Innate beauty and his ability, despite our superficial first impression, to make us look for beauty.' - Richard Martin, late curator of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Author Bio

Fergus Greer was born in England and now lives in the United States. His work can be seen regularly in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Newsweek, The Sunday Times Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. His portraits of Leigh Bowery have been exhibited in group shows at The Hayward Gallery, London, and the kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg.