Dennis Morris “A Bitta PIL”

Theodore:Art

This event has ended.

Theodore:Art presents an exhibition of the photographs of Dennis Morris, specifically his work with Public Image Limited.

Dennis Morris is a British-based artist who has used the camera to produce an in-depth body of work on extraordinary individuals. Born in Jamaica, raised in East London, Morris creates images of resonance for both music fans and culturally aware aesthetes.

His photographic investigations of London and the music and neighborhoods therein brought him into the circle of John Lydon, recently split from the Sex Pistols and the oversight of svengali Malcolm McLaren. Lydon formed Public Image Limited – a “communications company, not a band”, taking on corporate vernacular to control the commercial music industrial process, and also to subvert it. In keeping with this, Morris developed PIL’s visual image, through the creation of the renowned PIL logo, product and promotional design, video production, and photographs. The first PIL video, “Public Image”, presented the band in slick shiny suits, dramatically lit – glamorously menacing in sound and sight. Morris created the band’s first two album sleeves, including Metal Box, infamous for being incredibly beautiful and also unwieldy – getting the records out of that round tin was a labor of love.

Morris’ vision of PIL turned popular media culture inside out to critique the presentation of musicians and their products. His images of PIL are as startling and unnerving now as they ever were.

Closely associated with music, Morris has created some of the most iconic and memorable images of Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols, as well as the Marianne Faithfull Broken English album cover. He has also captured the essence of the Sikh community of Southall, UK; the collection was subsequently bought by English Heritage.

Several books of his work have been published, including Bob Marley: A Rebel Life; The Bollocks, on the Sex Pistols; and Growing Up Black, a chronicle of Black Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. His iconic work has been exhibited internationally at the Today Art Museum, Beijing; Laforet Museum, Tokyo; Arles Photography Festival, France; The Photographers’ Gallery, London; The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Tate Britain, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland. His photographs are included in prestigious public and private collections, such as Tate Britain, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and have appeared in many publications, including Rolling Stone, Time, GQ, Vogue, W, and Frieze. His work is included in books such as Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century by Greil Marcus; Century by Bruce Bernard; and 100 Days of Active Resistance by Vivienne Westwood.