David Lynch, William S. Burroughs and Andy Warhol: The Photographers' Gallery (17th January - 30th March 2014)

A trio of American cultural icons and oddballs make up The Photographers' Gallery first new exhibition of the year.  Photography doesn't immediately spring to mind when you think of David Lynch, William S. Burroughs or Andy Warhol, yet the work on display offers a real insight into their methods within their respective fields.  Shown across three floors, much of these photos have never been displayed in the Europe before and this is a rare opportunity to see this triptych under one roof.

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs.  John Lyon Gallery - 5th Floor 

David Lynch (b.1946) best known as the director of cult films as well as an occasional musician, actor and artist.  His photographic work is much less acknowledged (this is his first UK exhibition), but those familiar to Lynch's films should draw parallels between this work and his movies.  This series consists of black and white photos of the interiors and exteriors of abandoned factories and industrial wastelands composed in typically eerie fashion.

Shot in locations across England, Germany, Poland, New Jersey and New York.  Industry is a recurring motif throughout his cinematography - such as the industrial landscapes of Eraserhead (1977) and the factories in The Elephant Man (1980).  This fascination is particularly evident in the opening titles of his TV drama Twin Peaks (1990-1991) that features many close ups of machinery in a sawmill.  In fact many of these photos were taken when he was scouting for potential film locations. 

The eerie-ness and tension is furthered by Lynch's self-composed accompanying soundtrack that is projected into the gallery.  This synthesized white noise evokes a sense of the long lost industry that once thrived inside these now desolate buildings while sporadic percussive hits resonate like the ghosts of men working with machines in another world.  

"I got a taste for a certain kind of architecture and a feeling for machines and smoke and fear.  To me, the ideal factory location has no real nature, except winter-dead black trees and oil-soaked earth.  Time dissappears when I'm shooting in a factory, it's really beautiful." - David Lynch

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs is curated by Munich based author Petra Giloy-Hirtz. 

Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs. Barbara Lloyd Gallery - 4th Floor

One of 20th Century America's most influential and original writers, William S. Burroughs' (1914-1987) photography is pretty unknown and this exhibition is the first public display of his work in this area. 

Employing the same Dadaist cut-up techniques to his photographs that he applied to his writing Burroughs work is vaguely divided into street scenes, collages and portraits.  There are clippings of New York car accidents, before and after shots of a bed after a sexual encounter with lover John Brady - including a few rather grotty snaps of spunk stained sheets, even a photographic attack on a Cafe for serving him "outrageous and unprovoked discourtesy and poisonous cheesecake."

Many of these works don't seem to be complete, for instance there are a few hacked out clippings that have been mounted on the walls while there are a few sets of framed negatives.  The most enjoyable are the various portraits of friends, colleagues and lovers - including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Brady as well as Burroughs' self-portraits.  

"The point is to make the camera your eyes and take what your eyes are scanning out of the larger picture." - William S. Burroughs

Taking Shots is curated by Patricia Allmer, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and author John Sears.

Andy Warhol: Photographs 1976-1987. Wolfson Gallery - 2nd Floor

What makes this exhibiton so intriguing is that it offers a chance to see a lesser known period in the career of Andy Warhol (1928-1987).  In fact Warhol only became - ahem, focused on photography when he became familiar with 1970's compact cameras.  

Warhol's photography -like his most celebrated art, consists of the everyday.  Looking at these photos you can almost imagine the artist mysteriously gliding through streets, buildings and celebrity parties with a camera hanging from his neck obsessively snapping away.  Paradoxically on the one hand these images are detached from his most well-known work but at the same time they're somehow undeniably Warhol.

Particularly Warholian images include a snap of a cupboard of filled with Hellman's mayo, Uncle Ben's rice and other branded foods (no Campbell's soup though) and celebrity images of Jerry Hall and Liza Minelli familiarly replicated and hand stitched together by the artist.  Images less in the typical Warhol mould are shots of gay pride marches, a man lying on a bench (is he passed out or asleep?) and a family flying kites.   

"I told them I didn't believe in art, that I believed in photography." - Andy Warhol

The Photographers' Gallery 16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW
From 17th January - 30th March 2014
10am-6pm daily, except Thursdays (10am-8pm)
Tickets from £4