Imitate Modern at Photo London 2021

The sixth edition of Photo London will take place on September 9th until the 12th. Set at the historic Somerset House, Imitate will be exhibiting British photographer/director David Bailey and American photographer/director Tyler Shields. This is Imitate Modern’s first time at Photo London.

David Bailey

David Bailey will exhibit images from his illustrious archive for the first time at Photo London in September. Bailey has selected some of his most recognisable portraits alongside beautiful work from his 80s fashion archive. Rarely seen images of Jean Shrimpton (David Hockney Face Paint) from 1963 and a playful portrait of Miles Davis from 1969, will be shown alongside incredible fashion images featuring Catherine Bailey, Jerry Hall and Helmut Newton. Bailey has personally selected the series of photographs which also includes some of his most high profile black and white portraits including Andy Warhol, John Lennon & Paul McCartney and Michael Caine.

Bailey’s work with the Rolling Stones will also feature, including his famed black and white portrait of Mick Jagger, the colour image of Jagger taken by Bailey for the Goat’s Head Soup cover and a vibrant 1968 portrait of the band together. A unique series of Polaroids will also be available at the booth, featuring a selection of 100 priced at £1000 each, taken on jobs throughout Bailey’s remarkable career. This is the first time the photographer has hosted a booth at the fair, his previous involvement being a take-over of the Taschen stand for the launch of his SUMO book in 2019. David Bailey at Photo London is supported by Imitate Modern.

Tyler Shields

“all my photographs tell a story – they are a freeze frame of just a split second yet they provide a window onto a world of fantasy, eroticism, violence, romance, you name it. For me, good art makes you think, great art makes you feel, and I hope that when anyone views my work, they’re aroused by some sort of emotion – whether that be shock, joy, love or even anger.”

Californian fine art photographer and filmmaker Tyler Shields will exhibit a personally selected set of eleven prints at Photo London, in collaboration with his representative London gallery Imitate Modern. The booth will feature works from the entire breadth of the provocateur photographer’s portfolio, beginning with the Glitter Mouth shot in 2012, to his most recent, captured during the global pandemic and made possible by the unusually vacant streets of LA. Iconic works will be displayed such as Under the Rain (2018), an image which Shields’ himself admitted looked even better on film than it did in real life.