You just look Finer*
The Painting the Century exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London closes next Sunday February 4th. (see: 10/18/00 NEWS: ART DECADE…WELL MONTH ACTUALLY ) Apart from Stephen Finer’s portrait; ‘David Bowie and Iman’ (you may remember Stephen also painted a portrait of David in 1994), the exhibition is well worth a visit for many of the other 100 portraits on display, some of which are quite breathtaking.
Here follows a small excerpt from the book of the exhibition which has a full page reproduction of ‘David Bowie and Iman’ and a page of text about Finer’s portraits of David:
“…Would we look at the painting in a different way if we didn’t know who they were? The fact that these questions cannot be answered confers a kind of privacy on the subjects, allowing them to remain hermetic, to preserve their identities both as individuals and as a couple, while at the same time giving the artist unlimited licence to work wonders with his paint.”
David Bowie and Iman, 1995 by Stephen Finer
If you do manage to get along to the exhibition you will most likely want to check out the shop too. Apart from postcards of Mick Rock’s Ziggy shot that was used for the Rock Style exhibition and Stephen Finer’s portrait of David Bowie, there are some items left over from the Snowdon exhibition including a large 2001 calendar and a pack of notecards that use the stunning photograph of David below, taken by Snowdon in 1978 on the front.
*OK, I know it’s an Iggy Pop lyric, but David co-wrote the song, so ner, ner, ner, ner, ner.
Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)