Contemporary Club Culture - Leigh Bowery

Leigh Bowery - Incredibly insane, passionate and out of this world. Still the inspiration to many artists today, Bowery left behind a legacy of work, most famously the performance at London's Freedom cafe where Bowery gave birth to wife Nicola Bateman. The show only lasted one night due to it's shocking nature, but that one night was enough to inspire the most creative of minds including Alexander McQueen. Bowery designed clothes yet didn't want anyone to wear his creations, instead showcasing them around clubs himself showing that the clothes were a one off, much like Bowery himself. The clothes were works of art on his body which he also plastered in makeup to create a complete different persona - Leigh Bowery was a work of art in every sense of the word. 

Leigh Bowery. Werner Pawlok. 1988 Viewed 11/11/14

The image above from 1988 shows just how daring Bowery was with makeup. Mixing multiple colours together to create art. The dripping paint from the head was an everyday look for Bowery, he would often be seen in clubs with this type of makeup on. The look was the norm, from the coloured face to the long oval nails. Completely over the top yet hugely influential, even today, 20 years after his death. 

Leigh Bowery. Ole Christiansen. 1989. Viewed 11/11/14

Just a year later,  Bowery's creations extended to covering the entire face paired with a wig. Completely creating an entire new look, Bowery enjoyed breaking the norms of society. He was here to shock and to push the worlds of art and fashion. The covering of the whole face masked him, yet everyone still knew that it would have been Leigh Bowery inside that costume. How? because of the eccentricity of the look, nobody else would come up with this kind of creation, they would only follow. 

Leigh Bowery. Werner Pawlok. Viewed 11/11/14

Every image of Leigh Bowery showcases how he uses his whole body for art and to attract the attention of the whole art scene. The looks he created are so fascinating playing on the norms of what is deemed acceptable. He pushed the fashion world, pushed the use of colour and completely opened up the views of what can be created.