Richard Billingham
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Richard Billingham (born 1970 in Birmingham) is a noted English photographer and artist.
Billingham studied at the University of Sunderland as a painter, and came to prominence through his candid photography of his family in Cradley Heath, a body of work later added to and published in the acclaimed book Ray's A Laugh (1996). 'Ray's a Laugh' is a portrayal of the poverty and deprivation in which he grew up. The photographs, which were taken on the cheapest film he could find, provide brash colours and bad focus which adds to the authenticity and frankness of the series. Ray, his father, and his mother Liz appear at first glance as grotesque figures, with the alcoholic father drunk on his home brew, and the mother, an obese chain smoker with a fascination for nicknacks and jigsaw puzzles. However there is such integrity in this work that Ray and Liz ultimately shine through as troubled yet deeply human and touching personalities.
In 1997 Billingham was included in Saatchi's notorious Sensation show of young British artists, at the Royal Academy in London. Also in 1997, he won the Citigroup Photography Prize. He was nominated for the 2001 Turner Prize, for his solo show at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. He has also made landscape photographs at places of personal significance around the Black Country, and more of these were commissioned in 2003 by The Public, resulting in a book. He has also experimented with video films and video projections.
In late 2006 Billingham exhibited a major new series of photographs and videos inspired by his memories of visiting Dudley Zoo as a child. The series, entitled "Zoo", was commissioned by Birmingham-based arts organisation, VIVID and was exhibited at Compton Verney Art Gallery in Warwickshire. He now lives in Brighton, and travels widely. He is a lecturer in Fine Art Photography at the University of Gloucestershire.
[edit] Bibliography
- Black Country, The Public (2003). ISBN 0-9540200-2-2.
- Ray isn Witz, Scalo (2000). ISBN 3-931141-25-X.
