Artist Talk: Brian Griffin in conversation with Zelda Cheatle

About

Brian Griffin is recognised as one of Britain’s most influential photographers, known for his unconventional approach to his work and love of surrealism. MMX Gallery is delighted to present Brian Griffin: SPUD!, an exhibition of photographs selected from his recent residency at Labanque Arts Centre in Béthune-Bruay in Northern France.

The project has been dedicated to the First World War by Griffin and ultimately resulted in a book; SPUD published by GOST (March 2018). The exhibition at MMX Gallery in London will open on 25th October and will run until early December. 11th November this year equally marks the centenary of the end of World War I.

The exhibition features portraits of military personnel, R.A.F. Aircraft men and women, factory workers and businessmen. Painterly colour images inspired by British Realism, as well as black and white shots, all are taken on location in England and France. After reading the works of writer and poet Robert Graves who was himself a seriously wounded officer in WWI, Griffin began to think about the terrible wounds inflicted on soldiers during the conflict, which is also reflected in some of the still life images in the show.

Brian Griffin is widely acknowledged as one of the most prominent British photographers of his generation, constantly working on new materials and still pushing boundaries of contemporary photography.

He is famous for his ground-breaking approach to portraiture from Iggy Pop to Kate Bush, and numerous high profile projects stretching from 'Work' in the 1980's to his project charting 'The Road to 2012', commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery. Throughout his career, over twenty monographs of Griffin’s work have been published, his work has been the subject of over fifty international solo exhibitions and is held in institutional collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Arts Council of Great Britain, London; the British Council, London; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; the Art Museum Reykjavík, Iceland; the Mast Foundation, Bologna; and the Museu da Imagem, Braga, Portugal. In 2009, Brian Griffin became the patron of FORMAT Festival and in 2013 he received the Centenary Medal from the Royal Photographic Society in recognition of a lifetime achievement in photography.

Zelda Cheatle is distinguished curator and editor and well known lecturer and consultant of photography.

She has been involved in the photography industry since 1982 having worked at The Photographers’ Gallery in the mid-1980s before setting up and running her own eponymous photography gallery from 1989 to 2005.

Over the years she has been a publisher, worked with private and public institutions, and sat on numerous judging panels for a range of national and international competitions. Notably, in 2016, she was lead curator for Dubai Photo Exhibition, a huge undertaking for which she coordinated 18 international curators and more than 800 artworks.

Note: Spaces are limited!

Ticket price includes complementary cold refreshments (Alcoholic & Non-alcoholic drinks...)

Book your ticket via Eventbrite here