His bookPOP was released in 2017 and now there is an exhibition: until 28 January, Noorderlicht photo gallery is showing the most iconic album covers by British music photographer Brian Griffin. Artists such as Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, Echo & The Bunnymen and Iggy Pop lined up to be captured on camera by Griffin. What makes his work so cutting edge?
The brightly lit room is filled with large prints of artful photographs. At first glance, you wouldn't think these were album covers. Yet they are music photos, used for record covers of the greatest artists of the 1980s. The images are notable for their diversity: colour and black/white all come together. There are experimental portraits, with harsh lighting and shadows that alternate with silhouettes. Coordinator Regina Broersma points to an image of Queen guitarist Brian May that shows only the back of his head: ‘His haircut is his trademark. Because of that, you can tell it's Brian May, even though you can't see his face.’ It is an important feature in Griffin's output: not capturing the whole person, but only their most striking features.
The ostensible star of the exhibition is the English band Depeche Mode, with no fewer than eleven album photographs displayed in a specially designed room. ‘And he still works with them.’
It’s not only light and shadow that characterises Griffin's work. The images have an industrial feel. According to Broersma, this goes back to his childhood. Griffin grew up in the ‘black country’, a region in central England that industrialised heavily during the Industrial Revolution. That influence is reflected in his images. ‘He started his first studio in a harbour area in London, which retained that industrial atmosphere,’ Broersma explains. ‘He projects that part of his life onto his work.’ Griffin doesn’t shy away from experimentation either: ‘In terms of techniques, he was testing out a lot.’
It is an important feature in Griffin's output: not capturing the whole person, but only their most striking features.
Although some of the record covers on display are part of a conceptual design, they are deliberately taken out of their conceptual context. This places the emphasis on the individual photographs and on Griffin's development as a photographer and in defining the image of the 1980s. Broersma: ‘We want to tell it the whole story of Brian Griffin: how he started and what his earlier and later work is like.’ She points to three large album photos of Echo & The Bunnymen. ‘If we had shown a complete fold-out cover, then it was also about the design of the record. You can't separate them from each other. Yet the photo shoot itself is the most important thing. It's all about the photographer.’
Could we say that Brian Griffin defined the image of the 1980s? According to Broersma, it depends on who you ask: ‘He hasn't been the only one; Anton Corbijn could have been as well. You could say that some incredibly good photographers defined the image of that time. Brian Griffin is certainly one of them.’
Brian Griffin | Pop will be on display at Noorderlicht photo gallery until 28 January.
Text and image: Laura Popken