Softly illuminated against the rough brick walls, Guy Bourdin’s tantalising high-gloss images stand to many as a mark of true photographic perfection. Yet in a new exhibition it is his scrutiny and unremitting strive for perfection that results in a strange beauty of unfinished narratives that engage our attention and leave us mesmerised in a state of intrigue.

In a new series of 32 previously unseen works we are invited to take a deeper look into the images that reflect Bourdin’s ability to move on from his infamous Charles Jourdin images. Filling the pages of French Vogue in the seventies he notoriously exceeded the bounds of conventional advertising with his striking images, but here we realise Bourdin was more than just a master of sensual, glamorous and provocative image making.

Set in the complementary raw setting of the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, stone walls are enlivened by the highly saturated colour, falling onto the page like a brush stroke of high-gloss paint. Teasing us with the beginning or ending of a story this small, but well executed exhibition feels more like a sneaky peek into the personal mind of Guy Bourdin, where surrealist undertones and clever composition plant clues to estranged glamour and intrigue firmly in our minds.

All prints featured in the exhibition are available to buy and will be on display at The Wapping Project, Wapping Wall, London until July 4th 2009.

Links
The Wapping Project

By Tilly Pearman

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

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