Page 129 - Decadence

SHIELDSDECADENCE
This issue we revisit our friends at Maddox Gallery Mayfair to take a look at the images of Tyler Shields Decadence, a provocative series of pictures from “ Hollywoods favourite photographer.”
In a subversive nod to his infamous work with Hollywood’s hippest, Decadence is set in the court of Marie Antoinette. The coolest names in indie stardom luxuriate in the pomp and splendour of Versailles, a tongue in cheek collaboration between iconic visual artist and America’s nest talent.
A cast of young Hollywood actors and models take centre stage in this sumptuous new body of work, with Shields on his usual playful form as he invites his new muses to recreate the decadence and self-indulgence at the heart of Marie Antoinette’s Versailles. Courtiers include Ava Mulvoy-Ten, Holland Roland Roden, Isabelle Fuhrman, Lydia Hearst, Jamie King, Tallulah Willis, Christa B Allen, Poppy Jamie, Emily Lind, Lili Peper, Shoshana Bush, Spencer Locke, Mani Yarosh, Faith Picozzi, Logan Huffman, Connor Paolo, Madison Paige Courtney Halverston, Natalie Lind and Filip Millenkovic.
The series was shot on a fty- ve year old 8 x 10 plate camera, usually these large format cameras are found in studios, the large 8 x 10 negative gives a really sharp image and the size allows it to be blown up to larger than usual dimensions; up to billboard size if needed, which is why advertising photographers use them but usually requiring a tripod because of their sheer size. Shields also shot on a Hasselblad medium format camera, again for the quality of the larger negative but more exible to use as can be hand held.The shoot took place in California, and the exhibition was unveiled at London’s Maddox Gallery for the rst time globally to the public.
Tyler Shields has been making headlines around the world since 2011 with his shocking, sexy and star studded photography.
Themes of sex, death, esh, obsession, nightmare and fantasy are used to explore the peculiarity of the human condition.
Widely known for his controversial photographs of a blood-stained Lindsay Lohan, Shields went on to shoot equally contentious shots of Mischa Barton fondling raw meat.
Tyler Shields has worked with a cast of ranking members of Hollywood including Emma Roberts, Aaron Paul and Lydia Hearst to mention but a few.
Shields collaborates with his subject to produce bold, hard hitting work which has seen him graduate from ‘Bad Boy’ photographer to artist, lm maker and cultural commentator.
Tyler Shields captures a new type of American life while exploring the ctional nature of the historical and the classic.
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