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WIGAN'S WORLD
BELEN ASAD'S BUENOS AIRES
CHRIS LOW’S METAVERSE
It’s always seemed to me that streetstyle photography is 10% technical and 90% personality – above all else, honesty, openness and respect for the subjects photographed. It’s clear from the photos which I’m delighted to present here that Chris Low has these qualities in spades. And not just in terms of the extraordinary rapport he has with the subculture he himself first identified with, the Punks, but just about any ‘tribe’ he comes across – from Goths to Geezers, Rastas to Rock 'n' Rollers, Tokyo Deathrockers to Scotland's Tartan Army.
In the early days of streetstyle you were a Mod, a Rocker or a dedicated follower of mainstream fashion. Today's post-modern age offers up every possible style/lifestyle option - and all of it spread out in an infinity of Now. British photographer Chris Low adeptly navigates this multiverse.
Chris Low has taken photographs documenting his life and experiences from the age of ten. Since the early 1980s he published a number of fanzines, took up drumming and embraced the emerging 'zine' and band scene that would later come to be known as 'anarcho-punk'. He has written regularly for Vice as well as having photos featured in i-D, Time Out and 3am amongst other publications and contributed to a number of books on the punk movement. In August 2016 an exhibition of his photography entitled “Up Yours!” was held at the Red Gallery in Shoreditch, London and a book of his photos documenting the Tokyo punk scene was published. This was followed by two acclaimed exhibitions in Tokyo: Nakano in Oct 2016 and Koenji in April-May 2017.
His next photography exhibition is part of Rebellion Festival, Blackpool, 3-6 August 2017. He continues to photograph and document the sights and subcultures he encounters.
See more and get in touch with Chris at:
www.facebook.com/chrislow.ph0t0s
www.instagram.com/chris__low
www.chris--low.tumblr.com
email: chrislow@chrislow.co
Don't miss Chris Low's informative and fascinating captions - click on each image to get full size and caption at the top.
CHRIS LOW
His next photography exhibitions are as part of Rebellion Festival, Blackpool, 3-6 August 2017 and The Archway With Words Festival, London, 27-30 September as well as a collaborative event with Underground Shoes.
WIGAN'S WORLD
I think it was when I began research for the Streetstyle exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum that I first came into contact with Mark Wigan. I was really short on info about the British 'Northern Soul' scene and Mark not only knew this world of 'all nighter' dancing to obscure American soul 45s inside out but he also had great drawings which he kindly let me use in the exhibition and book. (The most famous Northern Soul venue was The Wigan Casino and this gave Mark his last name.) Gradually my eyes were opened to the range of his artistic styles, media and subjects. He and his partner Kerry Baldry are also great company and a pleasure to be with. I'm thrilled that Mark has agreed to let me show his work in my website's Guest Gallery.
Mark Wigan is an English born visual artist first recognised internationally as an influential illustrator and a pioneer of urban art in London, New York and Tokyo during the 1980s. His work explores and responds to anthropology and subcultures and he is the co founder and curator of The Museum of Club Culture in Hull with artist Kerry Baldry. Wigan's paintings and drawings are held in private and public collections worldwide and have been described as signposts to the ancient past from the beginning of language itself to a visual anthem for the information overload of the 21st Century.
Mark's current projects include a collaboration with Dr Martens, a collection of boots, shoes, t shirts, and backpacks for Autumn/ Winter 2015 featuring prints of his artwork. Since the 1990s he has lectured in illustration and graphic design at many universities in the UK including University of the Arts London and Salford University and is the author of six books on illustration published by Fairchild Books (Bloomsbury Publishing). Clients have included Limelight Club, Time Out, Astoria Theatre, Kensington Market, Scala Cinema, i-D Magazine, Dr Martens, NME, Circulo des Bellas Artes Madrid, Nagoya City Expo Japan, Parco Gallery Japan, Swatch, Panasonic, Toshiba, Virgin, Levis, Fuji TV, Deviant Records, 20 Stories High Liverpool, The Southbank Centre London. You can see more of Mark's work at wigansworld.moonfruit.com/
BELEN ASAD'S BUENOS AIRES
When my 'Streetstyle' exhibition opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1994 it was still - just - appropriate that the world's first major exhibition on this subject should be taking place in London. London which had spawned Mods, Rockers, Skinheads, Glam, Punk, New Romantics, Goths and Pervs. But which, even by the 90s, was becoming too moneyed and full of itself (cf 'Cool Britannia') to generate anything down and dirty and original. Next up was Tokyo with its hordes of extraterrestrial Mamba, Gonguro and Gothic Lolitas. But it wasn't long before (as had happened in London, down the King's Road) the number of photographers far exceeded the number of street stylists. Where would 'it' be 'happening' post-Tokyo? The answer is anywhere and everywhere it's least expected. One such place is Buenos Aires - a city which the world's tango fans (myself included) presumed to be caught in a century old time-warp of fedoras and long skirts with slits up the side. But, like many South American cities, Buenos Aires has leapt in one bound from the 19th to the 21st century. A musician, singer, graphic designer as well as a photographer, Belen Asad is recording her own, particular slice of 21st century Buenos Aires. It's well worth a visit. Her work is available through http://www.cargocollective.com/catexia and you can see more of her work at belenasad.tumblr.com