photo: Miles Aldridge
In 2008, Reflex New Art Gallery once again presented work by Miles Aldridge. The photographer had already exhibited at the gallery a year earlier, coinciding with the publication of his book The Cabinet.
Miles Aldridge was born in London in 1964 and grew up surrounded by music and pop art. His father, Alan Aldridge, was a well-known art director whose clients included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
At the time, he was the staff photographer for Vogue Italia and also shot series for leading publications such as Numéro, The New York Times, i-D, Vogue Homme, Chinese Vogue, Zoo, Bazar and many others.
Aldridge enjoys stylishly stripping away the thin veneer of fashion photography.
Whether in his commissioned work or his personal work, Aldridge presents a different world each time. It is an autonomous universe that creates powerful images filled with references to famous films. Models and brands seem to become secondary, because what matters is the overall feeling.
That feeling is powerful and eccentric, but also humorous: sometimes hyperreal, sometimes highly fantastical (the girl in the floral setting), sometimes strongly reinforcing traditional gender roles, and sometimes deeply unsettling.
Look a little longer and you sense a certain unease underlying this glamorous world, as though something terrible might happen at any moment. Miles Aldridge creates more than just pretty pictures.
His work has multiple layers, making it especially rewarding to view for those versed in art history. Consider the photographs from the ‘shopping series,’ with their exuberant bursts of pop-art color. Or the Madonnas inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
Yet admirers of ‘quiet images’ will also be surprised. With charm, Miles Aldridge dispels the notion that the world of luxury and fashion is entirely superficial.
The exhibition was on view from April 19 at Reflex New Art Gallery in Amsterdam.
See also the book The Cabinet.
