Brian Aris – Two Worlds

10th June 2023 – 12th August 2023 (Gallery Open Thursday-Sunday)

Lucy Bell Gallery is pleased to present “Two Worlds” a unique exhibition exploring five decades of the career of renowned British Photographer Brian Aris.

B R I A N   A R I S, who now lives on the South Coast, started out his photographic career as a photojournalist during the 1960s-1970s His work for a London Agency took him on a series of frontline assignments around the world – covering civil unrest and riots at the start of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, the plight of Palestinian children in Jordan, the Civil War in Lebanon, famine in Africa and the war in Vietnam, where he worked until the final days of the conflict in Saigon.

“Looking back the days spent in Belfast and Londonderry during “The Troubles” were without question my favourite times because photojournalism was all I ever dreamt of doing, I will never forget being on the ground during the first major riot I covered and seeing Don McCullin crouched alone in a doorway opposite avoiding the C.S. gas and quietly shooting.
In terms of photographing violence or horror the camera does act as a barrier between the photographer and the reality of that moment in time. Without the camera I don’t think I would have coped with some of the situations I found myself in, particularly the famines in Africa. They were truly terrible and very harrowing. But I always believed those images had to be seen in the hope that, as human beings we might just react to the horrors and do our best to stop them being repeated.”

“I was really disillusioned when I returned from Vietnam in 1975.  I managed to get my films back to the agencies quickly but they were soon returned saying interest in the war was over. That really hurt and with friends in the music business and modelling world offering me work I decided to try my hand at something completely different”

Aris changed direction and opened a studio in London where he started photographing fashion for newspapers and magazines, regularly flying to exotic locations such as St.Tropez and Jamaica for weeks at a time to work with a succession of top models. At the same time he gradually broadened his studio work to include pop and rock including The Jam, The Clash, The Boomtown Rats, Roxy Music and The Police and eventually turned away from the model world to concentrate on the music industry which was exploding in Britain.

During the next two decades he covered every aspect of the music scene from punk rock, glam’ rock and straight rock ‘n’ roll, with the Rolling Stones right through to the emergence of the boy bands and then “girl power” that arrived with The Spice Girls. While also having become friends with Bob Geldof, Aris was then brought in to take the exclusive official pictures of the all-superstar Band Aid line-up organised by Bob, as they got together to record the fund-raising hit single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”  helping victims of the Ethiopian famine.

Exclusive backstage coverage of the LiveAid and Live8 concerts followed and Aris eventually went back to Ethiopia with Geldof to photograph the work that had been carried out as a result of the money raised, and so, his two worlds collided.

Aris continued to shoot portraits regularly and his archive now includes many iconic portraits of The Beatles, Twiggy, Blondie, Linda Ronstadt, Tina Turner, Susan George, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Morrison, Sophia Loren, Madonna, Meryl Streep, Wham! Annie Lennox, George Michael, David Bowie, Elton John, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Kate Bush, The Jam, Boom Town Rats, Rod Stewart, Duran Duran, Sting, The Police and the Queen.

During lockdown Brian Aris decided to use the time to go through his own archive and started to curate a book of his own images, the exhibition “Two Worlds” is a snapshot of his illustrious career, and preview of his book.

All prints are for sale.

 

FEATURE IN THE GUARDIAN

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2023/jun/22/from-the-troubles-to-glam-rock-through-the-eyes-of-brian-aris-in-pictures

Brian Aris – Debbie Harry with Warhol and Whip, New York 1988 (2)

Brian Aris – David Bowie London 1991

Brian Aris – Debbie Harry 1977

Brian Aris – Kate Bush 1980

Brian Aris – Paddington, London, Dustman’s Strike, 1960s

Brian Aris – Prefab Fire, London 1960s

Brian Aris – Portobello Market,1960s

Brian Aris – Gaslighting, Paddington, 1960s

Brian Aris – Paddington, 1960s

Brian Aris – Paddington, 1960s

Brian Aris – Paddington, 1960s

Brian Aris – Paddington, 1960s

Brian Aris – The Troubles, 1970s

Brian Aris – Belfast 1970s

Brian Aris – Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1969

Brian Aris – Belfast, The Falls Road 1969

Brian Aris – Falls Road, Belfast 1970s

Brian Aris – Evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam 1975

Brian Aris – Saigon Orphanage 1972

Brian Aris – Dessie, Ethiopia 1973

Brian Aris – Bob Geldof, Ethiopia, 1987

Brian Aris – Debbie Harry of Blondie, First Sitting 1977

Brian Aris- Debbie Harry – First Contact Sheet, London 1977

Brian Aris – Madonna, London 1984

Brian Aris – Madonna, Contact Sheet, London 1984

Brian Aris – The Beatles Kilburn, 1963

Brian Aris – George Harrison with his Guitars at Friars Park, Henley-on-Thames, 1979

Brian Aris – Annie Lennox, 1983

Brian Aris – The Eurythmics, 1983

Brian Aris – Sade Adue, 1984

Brian Aris – George Michael

Brian Aris – David Bowie on Set of Tin Man, Dublin 1991

Brian Aris – David Bowie with Alexandria, New York

Brian Aris – Keith and Ronnie in Paris 1983

Brian Aris – Mick Jagger 1983

Brian Aris – Elton John 1980

Brian Aris – David Bowie Dublin

Brian Aris – Tina Turner – London 1986

Brian Aris – Roxy Music, Wembley Stadium 1970s

Brian Aris – Ian Dury

Brian Aris – Toyah Willcox 1980s

Brian Aris – David Bowie London 1991

Brian Aris – Bryan Ferry at The Crown, Elswick Road, Newcastle, 1970s

Brian Aris – Robbie Williams Live8 2005

Brian Aris – Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London 1996

Brian Aris – Debbie Harry Koo-Koo 1981

Brian Aris – Band Aid Group Shot Contact Sheet 1984

Brian Aris – Pink Floyd 2005

Brian Aris – Bob Geldof Malaysian Barbers Shop 1982

Brian Aris – Debbie Harry Warhol, Contact Sheet, New York1988

Brian Aris – The Jam Contact Sheet

Brian Aris – Band Aid Group Shot 1984

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