Alexander Brattell
Encyclopedia
Alexander Brattell is a British photographer best known for his abstract monochrome fine art prints which examine the role of visual perception in non-verbal thought.
were purchased by his publisher, John Calder.
When his request to transfer his degree to a media subject was declined Brattell left university to pursue photography full time. He was the staff photographer and writer for the Liverpool Music and Art fanzine “Breakout” until he began several years of employment in the photographic industry as a social & commercial location and studio photographer. He became freelance in 1986. By this time he had already established his fine art practice and was regularly exhibiting his prints in shops and restaurants. His first solo exhibition was at Veronica’s Restaurant in Bayswater West London in 1984.
, Arena
, GQ, Esquire
, Vogue
, Tandoori, Skin Two magazine, Square Meal and Fortean Times
. His work with musicians continued through work for fRoots magazine and with The Big Chill
, then a small Sunday club event planning their first festival, for whom he photographed, co-wrote (as Headonastick) and co-edited the Big Chill magazine “ON” (1995–1996).
Commercial clients during a 25-year period have included PricewaterhouseCoopers
, CVC Capital Partners, Freud Communications
' and international hotel design company Hirsch Bedner Associates. Brattell resisted specialising, enjoying the contrasts and challenges offered by a combination of still life, food, interiors and portraiture.
In 1996 Brattell began teaching part time, first at Cordwainers College Hackney, then at The London College of Fashion.
He has facilitated numerous community projects and student exhibitions at venues ranging from The Whitechapel Gallery to doctors surgeries.
At the end of 2005 Brattell relocated to St Leonards On Sea, East Sussex with his partner the jewellery artist Jo McAllister and their young son. He continues to accept commissions, most usually from artists, performers and craftspeople, teaches photography part time at Sussex Coast College Hastings and exhibits regularly. He increasingly works with galleries such as F-ish, Hastings (curating), The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (art projects in primary schools) and Towner, Eastbourne (exhibition events).
His fine art practice weaves an unbroken thread through his career resulting in bodies of work and series of pictures from Britain, Poland, Italy, Southern Africa, Morocco, Egypt and the Western United States. His multi-series work centred on London’s East End has attracted particular attention, being chosen for display by The Prince’s Foundation and the 2010 London International Documentary Festival.
Other important influences on Brattell’s work include the English proto-surrealist Austin Osman Spare
(1886–1956), writers J. G. Ballard
(1930–2009) and William S. Burroughs
(1914–1997).
Group exhibitions:
Galleries:
Early years
Brattell’s interest in photography started when he was a psychology undergraduate at Liverpool University in 1981 with an ambition to become a writer. Comfortable with a camera from the outset, what was intended to be a visual diary to accompany writing projects soon took centre stage. His first published picture was a portrait of professor Patrick Minford for The Financial Times. In 1982 Brattell’s photographs of the author William S. BurroughsWilliam S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
were purchased by his publisher, John Calder.
When his request to transfer his degree to a media subject was declined Brattell left university to pursue photography full time. He was the staff photographer and writer for the Liverpool Music and Art fanzine “Breakout” until he began several years of employment in the photographic industry as a social & commercial location and studio photographer. He became freelance in 1986. By this time he had already established his fine art practice and was regularly exhibiting his prints in shops and restaurants. His first solo exhibition was at Veronica’s Restaurant in Bayswater West London in 1984.
Main career
Moving to a studio and darkroom in Poplar, East London in 1987, Brattell divided his time between commissions from design companies and PR agencies, editorial assignments and making prints of his personal images. He freelanced for The Sunday Telegraph over a 14-year period under picture editor Nigel Skelsey and worked for diverse publications including The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
, GQ, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Tandoori, Skin Two magazine, Square Meal and Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
. His work with musicians continued through work for fRoots magazine and with The Big Chill
The Big Chill (music festival)
The Big Chill is an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August...
, then a small Sunday club event planning their first festival, for whom he photographed, co-wrote (as Headonastick) and co-edited the Big Chill magazine “ON” (1995–1996).
Commercial clients during a 25-year period have included PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
, CVC Capital Partners, Freud Communications
Freud Communications
Freud Communications is a public relations firm based in London. Freud Communications was founded by Matthew Freud, who comes from the Public Relations dynasty of Edward Bernays and is the great-grandson of the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud...
' and international hotel design company Hirsch Bedner Associates. Brattell resisted specialising, enjoying the contrasts and challenges offered by a combination of still life, food, interiors and portraiture.
In 1996 Brattell began teaching part time, first at Cordwainers College Hackney, then at The London College of Fashion.
He has facilitated numerous community projects and student exhibitions at venues ranging from The Whitechapel Gallery to doctors surgeries.
At the end of 2005 Brattell relocated to St Leonards On Sea, East Sussex with his partner the jewellery artist Jo McAllister and their young son. He continues to accept commissions, most usually from artists, performers and craftspeople, teaches photography part time at Sussex Coast College Hastings and exhibits regularly. He increasingly works with galleries such as F-ish, Hastings (curating), The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (art projects in primary schools) and Towner, Eastbourne (exhibition events).
His fine art practice weaves an unbroken thread through his career resulting in bodies of work and series of pictures from Britain, Poland, Italy, Southern Africa, Morocco, Egypt and the Western United States. His multi-series work centred on London’s East End has attracted particular attention, being chosen for display by The Prince’s Foundation and the 2010 London International Documentary Festival.
Influences
Through encountering the work and writings of mid-twentieth century American avant garde photographers of the 1940s and 1950s such as Minor White, Harry Callahan and Aaron Suskind, Brattell realised that it was Alfred Stieglitz’s theory of Equivalents that could best help him verbalise his own work. Like those artists his work is not primarily concerned with the subjects that it depicts and is therefore closer to the concerns of surrealism and abstract expressionism than traditional or post-modern modes in photography.Other important influences on Brattell’s work include the English proto-surrealist Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self...
(1886–1956), writers J. G. Ballard
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction...
(1930–2009) and William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
(1914–1997).
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions:- The Edge Of England: McCarrons, St Leonards On Sea, East Sussex 2009
- Word On The StreetWord on the streetWord on the Street is a Canadian book and magazine festival held each September in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Kitchener and Halifax.Each city's festival features author readings, workshops, information booths and reading and writing-related activities....
: Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. October 2004 - January 2005 - 19Hz: The Spitz Bistro, London E1. October 2004
- AntinomyAntinomyAntinomy literally means the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology....
: The Fashion Space Gallery, London College of Fashion, London. November 2003 - Lines of Desire: The Space, London. June - July 2003
- SpectacleSpectacleIn general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French spectacle, itself a reflection of the Latin spectaculum "a show" from spectare "to view,...
: The Eye Company, London. 2002 - Last Minute: The Alex, London. 2002
- britart.com: Foyer exhibition, London. 2000
- Paul Mark Hatton Jewellery: London. 2000
- Portals and Spirits: The Clerks House, London. 1999
- Freuds Cafe Gallery: London W1. 1992
- Brattell In Poland: Polish Social & Cultural Association Gallery, London W6. 1990
Group exhibitions:
- They’re Not Laughing Now: F-ISH gallery, Hastings. Exhibitor & curator. October 2010
- The Invisible City: London International Documentary Festival. Exhibitor & speaker. April 2010
- IPG’s Greatest Hits: The Independent Photographers Gallery, Battle, December 2009
- Indian Summer: Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, September 2009
- Conversations...From The Edge: Photo Hub Group, St Mary In The Castle Hastings, September 2009
- Jack In The GreenJack in the greenA Jack in the Green is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot...
: Hastings Arts Forum, St. Leonards on Sea, May 2008, 2009, 2010 - ShadowlandsShadowlandsShadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....
: South Coast Artists. Arts Forum, St. Leonards on Sea, March 2008 - Spirit Of The SeasonSpirit of the SeasonSpirit of the Season is a song from the movie The Polar Express. A cover of the song by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Sissel was nominated for 2 Grammys, Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Engineered Album - Classical....
: The Independent Photographers Gallery, Battle, Dec 2007 - Jan 2008 - RegenerationRegeneration-In biology:* Regeneration , the ability to recreate lost or damaged tissues, organs and limbs* Bush regeneration, an ecological technique practiced in Australia-In music:* Regeneration , a 1977 album by Roy Orbison...
: SoCo Gallery, Hastings, March 2007 - Seaside: Conquest Hospital, Hastings, August - November 2006
- South Coast Artists Spring Show: SoCo Gallery Hastings, May 2006
- Landscape Through The Lens: SoCo Gallery Hastings, January 2006
- War!: The Rivington Gallery, London. June 2003
- Looking at London: The Prince’s Foundation, London. 2002
- London College of Fashion Faculty Show: London W1, 2001
- Cordwainers College Faculty Exhibitions: 1997, 1998, 1999
- Spitalfields, A Last Lingering Look: The Clerks House, Shoreditch. 1999
- SmallsThe SmallsThe Smalls were a hard rock/metal band from Edmonton, Alberta, with jazz, hardcore punk, speed metal and country music influences. They were probably the most prominent Alberta band in the second wave of performers coming out of the Canadian west coast DIY scene that was first ushered into Alberta...
: The Clerks House, Shoreditch, 1998 - Camerawork Open Exhibition: London E2, 1990
Galleries:
- Eyestorm
- Lucy Bell Fine Art Photography
Books
- Fetish - Masterpieces of Erotic Fantasy Photography - Carlton Books ISBN 1-85868-674-1
Magazines
- Skin Two magazine: 26, "The Story of Zero" Cover Photo & fashion feature (1998) ISBN 1-899279-55-5
- 3000AD: 2000 AD Anniversary Supplement (Mar 1997)