‘Jasper Goodall – God of Illustration’ ['Der Gott der Illustration']. Solo Exhibition at the Viaux Gallery for fashion photography, Hamburg, 17 August - 10 October 2005.
The Viaux Gallery for fashion photography in Hamburg invited me to show in the autumn of 2005. Viaux have a gallery in Berlin and one in Hamburg and exhibit exclusively fashion photography with big name photographers like Klaus Thymann, Luis Sanchis, Rasmus Mogensen and Rankin showing in the last few years.
When I was invited to show at the gallery I was the first non-photographic artist to be asked. For a long time illustration has been seen by art directors perhaps a little like photography’s poor cousin, there are few if any ‘big name’ illustrators like you get in photography and it is often considered a cheaper alternative to using a photograph in a layout. I believe Illustration’s slowly rising status is exemplified by the invitation to show at this gallery normally reserved for the often-elite world of the fashion photographer. What further adds to this belief is that the gallery owner’s decided to call the show ‘Jasper Goodall – God of Illustration’ (a title obviously not chosen by myself I hasten to add) but which hints at the celebrity status often accorded to the fashion photographer.
I view this show as confirmation of an upward trend in illustration over the last decade where its status, kudos and cool has grown to the extent that it really can replace a photograph, not just in content but in the kudos stakes too. And that the illustrator as an individual is becoming more and more well known in a similar way to the big name photographers.
Perhaps my work more than most illustrators is suited to this role of standing alongside fashion photography, for it is often photographically representational in its style and aspirational and sexy in its content; And has been consistently used in fashion editorial where quite often it is the only representation of illustration in the whole magazine – the rest being photography.
'Der Gott der Illustration', Ausstellung: Jasper Goodall
"Stellen Sie sich die hochästhetischen Zeichnungen von Audrey Beardsley vor, denken Sie sich dazu die Grafiken, die Andy Warhol nach einem Fotoporträt der Super-Schönheit Marilyn Monroe druckte, halten Sie sich auch in den Farben an die Pop-Art, oder lassen Sie sie ganz weg, so daß nur das pure Schwarz auf dem weißen Papier regiert - und Sie haben in etwa eine Vision der Zeichnungen von Jasper Goodall, dem "Gott der Illustration". Seine eben genannten Ahnen waren, das soll nicht vergessen werden, zugleich in ihren Werken Chef-Erotiker. Eine Eigenschaft, die auch Goodall ziert. Und nicht zuletzt ihr verdankt er seine erste Hamburger Ausstellung in der Viaux Gallery, bei der Kunst mit erotischem Einschlag immer offene Türen findet. Während sie sonst nur Fotografien zeigt, macht sie diesmal eine Ausnahme mit Drucken, die von den Zeichnungen Goodalls angefertigt wurden. Die Fan-Gemeinde des vielbegehrten Künstlers wird es mit Freuden aufnehmen."
(Abentblatt, 16 August 2005)
