LEIGH BOWERY EXPO AT MCA
The Art and (larger than) Life of Leigh Bowery 19 December - 7 March 2004
Take a Bowery examines the extraordinary and outrageous life of the late Australian-born, London-based performance artist Leigh Bowery.
Working closely with Nicola Bateman Bowery, the widow and executor of the estate of Leigh Bowery, the exhibition examines Bowery’s extraordinary contribution to performance, fashion design and visual culture. It features many of the infamous costumes, wigs and accessories produced by Bowery for performances, openings and nights out, as well as stunning photographs of Bowery’s extravagant looks, footage of landmark performances including Mrs Peanut Visits New York (1999) and Teach (1992); and films by the Welsh artist Cerith Wyn-Evans, including his documentation of Bowery’s landmark Anthony d’Offay Gallery performance.
The exhibition will also include Lucian Freud’s major painting Leigh Under the Skylight. This is the first time the work, which extends almost three metres high and shows a full standing frontal pose, will be seen in Australia. It was painted by Freud in 1994 and features Leigh Bowery, who was a favourite model of Freud’s from 1990 through to Bowery’s death on New Year’s Eve 1994. Bowery is the subject of a number of Freud’s paintings, as well as a series of etchings, all three of which are included in the MCA’s exhibition.
Born in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine in 1961 Bowery was drawn to London’s punk scene and nightlife in the early 1980s, quickly established a reputation within London’s club-land due to the spectacular and innovative costumes he created and the serial identities he presented.
Bowery’s elaborate costumes, often created using highly advanced and complex dressmaking skills, was an inspiration artists and designers such as Lucian Freud, Boy George, Michael Clark, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. His refiguring of the body through costume and performance was radical and far-reaching with every aspect of his body, face, genitals and feet transmuted and distorted in such a way that it became an integral part of his costume.
Saturday 20 December 2003, 2.30pm
The Life and Times of Leigh
Join Leigh Bowery’s widow and long-time collaborator, Nicola Bateman Bowery, and exhibition curator, Gary Carsley, as they lead a tour of the exhibition, sharing their personal insights into the outrageous life of Leigh Bowery and assess his important contribution to performance, fashion and visual culture.
LATE NIGHT THURSDAYS
Each Thursday during the Sydney Festival (8, 15 and 22 January) all MCA galleries stay open until 9pm. Drop in to view our Tracey Moffatt, Leigh Bowery or Callum Morton exhibitions, or combine your visit with one of the following events.
Take a Bowery after Dark
Thursday 8 January, 6.30pm
Take a Bowery exhibition curator Gary Carsley and long-time friend and biographer of Leigh Bowery, Sue Tilley, return to the club culture of the 1980s to explore Bowery’s transition from the nightclub arena into the art world. Sue Tilley is the author of the 1997 biography Leigh Bowery: The Life and Times of an Icon.
Thursday 15 January, 6.30pm
Join regional daytime TV legend and host of Good Morning Murwillumbah, Bob Downe, for a special viewing of the exhibition and a special screening of footage not included in the exhibition.
Thursday 22 January, 6.30pm
Join housewife, hostess and entertainment identity Vanessa Wagner for a tour of the exhibition. Vanessa promises an opinionated and very funny guide to the many influential looks designed and worn by Leigh Bowery, whose creations often defied the conventional drag image.
CHECK THIS ARTICLE BY SMH
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