The moment you enter the Juergen Teller exhibition at the ICA, you are greeted by Dame Vivienne Westwood’s crotch- it’s right at the eye level of gallery visitor- full-frontal and in your face. But, the triptych of photographs of the 71-year-old fashion designer aren’t crude or pornographic, in fact she looks like a Botticelli’s Venus, reclining on an ornate couch with her golden locks strewn like a mermaid’s.
The exhibition continues on in this vein, with provocative images of celebrities such as Lily Cole, Kate Moss and Charlotte Rampling, as well as intimate portraits of family members and more recent shots of Teller’s stark native Erlangen, in Bavaria and his family home in Suffolk. Iconic images from fashion magazines show the sitter looking straight down the camera lens with a cheeky, challenging smirk. They have featured in fashion campaigns for Celine and Marc Jacobs, and even the relatively demure Jigsaw used Teller for one of their more risque ads.
Teller’s photographs may be the antithesis of conventional fashion photography, but they show an emotional honesty and a sense of humour between the artist and model. His sitters respond whole heartedly to his directions, resulting in up-front, honest and intense photographs.
The exhibition, which is free, is on display until March 17 at the ICA.
