This exhibition marks the twentieth anniversary of their first album and coincides with the publication of a major new book, Pet Shop Boys Catalogue (Thames and Hudson), a history of experimentation, re-invention and collaboration with leading artists, film-makers, designers, typographers and photographers including Derek Jarman, Sam Taylor-Wood, Mark Farrow, Bruce Weber and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Focussing on the work of photographer Eric Watson, who helped create the early and enduring dynamic of the band, typified by Neil in foreground in suit, Chris in background in hat and shades, the National Portrait Gallery exhibition sets Watson's portraits alongside images from other leading pop photographers including Pennie Smith and Andy Earl. Looking at how this very British of bands uses wry humour and a playful sprit of reinvention to define and develop their public image, Pet Shop Boys move from being depicted as very 'real' characters, photographed in dingy London streets, to being seen as computer-game-inspired fantasy marionettes dressed in orange jump suits and wearing striped conical hats.
On 5 April 1985, Neil Tennant quit his job as a journalist at Smash Hits to pursue a more active career in pop with architecture student, Chris Lowe. In the following issue the magazine ran an obituary for Tennant, bidding their former employee farewell and predicting that in a matter of weeks he would 'be back crawling on his knees'. Instead, Pet Shop Boys went on to become the most successful duo in British pop history with 36 top 20 hits and ten top ten albums.
From the very beginning, the band's image has been, in the words of Tennant himself, 'not quite but almost of equal importance' as the music itself. Photographed in the early years in Shoreditch and King's Cross, looking at best deadpan, at worst morose, Pet Shop Boys revelled in the contradiction of this somewhat serious-looking duo making surprisingly upbeat disco. Never shy of poking fun at - while also embracing - the pop music industry, they see their work in the tradition of playwrights Joe Orton and Noel Coward- comic yet serious, mocking and self-mocking - and have throughout their career been influenced by key ideas in art, politics, design and film.
The release of their ninth studio album this summer, Fundamental, has already produced another top ten single, while this exhibition coincides not only with the publication of Pet Shop Boys Catalogue but also the band's world tour.
A programme of music events and talks will accompany the exhibition. The exhibition is on view through 4 March 2007 at the Bookshop Gallery. -- www.npg.org.uk
Posted January 15th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
