Leigh Bowery was often a nude model for the painter Lucian Freud, I'm currently making sketches of some of Freud's paintings of him. That's how I heard of him, but I'm starting to disover that Bowery was totally an artist in his own right, and a pretty extraordinary public persona. I have a feeling I'd have heard of Bowery before long after I turned 18 anyway, since I think the majority of his legacy lies in the clubbing industry. Fashion designer, model, club promoter, actor, performance artist, pop star, transvestite. Wikipedia has this to say: "Eventually he was making a name for himself by dramatic performances of dance, music, and extreme exhibitionism, while wearing bizarre and very original outfits of his own design."
This guy truly lived fast and died hard. He died of AIDS in 1994 after becoming a central figure of the 1980s and 90s London art and fashion scene...it's amazing looking into this man's history and style as I can see the impact of his life in so much of the culture I surround myself with. Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Boy George, Anthony and the Johnsons, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, the Scissor Ssiters...and of course Lucian Freud.
He once said "I want to be the Andy Warhol of London", which says alot to me, being a devout Warhol fan as well as a fan of alot of 21st century British art. Boy George commented he was "Modern Art on legs". What an exciting life, and in such a short space of time...All in all, major respect to Leigh Bowery, and R.I.P. to him too.
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