Biography of the photographer:

Alison Jackson is a contemporary artist who explores the cult of celebrity – an extraordinary phenomenon of our age made possible by the wide availability of photographic images in film, press, TV, internet and the interest in publicity.

Jackson makes convincingly realistic work about celebrities doing things in private using lookalikes. Likeness becomes real and fantasy touches on the believable. She creates scenarios we have all imagined but never seen – the hot images the media can’t get.

Jackson raises questions about whether we can believe what we see when we live in a mediated world of screens, imagery and internet. She comments on our voyeurism, on the power and seductive nature of imagery, and on our need to believe. Her work has established wide respect for her as an incisive, funny and thought-provoking commentator on the burgeoning phenomenon of contemporary celebrity culture.

Alison works across all media and arts platforms in TV, Press, Internet, books, some merchandising and is widely exhibited in galleries and museums attracting extensive interest in the press and on TV. Her images themselves have become just as much a part of popular culture as images of the real celebrities.

• Television includes the BAFTA award winning BBC Television series “Double Take”, Short films for “Saturday Night Live” Various television specials for Channel 4 including; “Blaired Vision”; “Tony Blair Rock Star’”, “Sven: The Coach, the cash and his lovers”; :”The Charles and Camilla Wedding Special”, “The Royal Wedding Special” and “Secret Election”. Melvyn Bragg presents her authored piece on The South Bank Show, ‘Alison Jackson on Warhol’ 2009. BBC Historical Series 2010. The Alison Jackson Review 2011 / 2012 SKY. BBC Pilot 2012 for a fake news entertainment show.

• Motion pictures in development include “Get out of my Way, I’m a lookalike’ with BBC Films AND “Celebrity Plane Crash/Stuck on a Desert Island”.

• Publications include Canongate Exposed ! 2011. Taschen “Confidential” and Penguin “Private”, ‘Up the Aisle’ based on the Royal Wedding 2011.

• Advertisements include award-winning campaigns for Coca-Cola Schweppes.

• Website fake celebrity entertainment show. 1million pageviews since Launch of alisonjackson.com in April 2011. 100,000 clicks in 24hours for the Royal Wedding content alone. 150,000 unique visitors monthly. Website features on worlds largest news sites: Huffington Post, Daily Mail; Daily Beast etc.

• Museum collections and exhibitions include; SFMOMA 2011; The Hayward Gallery, The Royal Family 2011; Tate Modern Exposed 2010, Tate Britain Rude Brittannia 2010, KunstHalle Amersterdam Peeping Tom 2011, Pompidou, Paris. Tate Liverpool, Hamiltons Gallery, London; Liverpool Biennial International Festival of Contemporary Art, UK; New Art Gallery, UK; Paris Photo, Le Louvre, France; Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Brussels; Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, UK; KunstForum, Vienna, Austria; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Canada; Musée de L’Eysee, Lausanne, Switzerland; International Center of Photography (ICP), New York, USA.

Alison recently photographed some of Britain’s best-loved Actors for J. Sheekey Restaurant,London. The portraits of ‘Theatre Luminaries of the 21st Century’ collection line the walls. Portraits include; Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike, Orlando Bloom, Hugh Boneville, Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Redgrave.

Jackson’s speaking engagements have included TED, Tate Britain and Modern, ICA, South Bank Centre, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh TV Festival, Barbican, Royal Geographical Society, Intelligence2 amongst various universities and colleges.

Born in Hampshire, Alison trained in Fine Art Sculpture at Chelsea College of Art in London, and in Fine Art Photography at The Royal College of Art. She lives and works in London. Alison is Ambassador to the Spinal Injuries Association.

2010
BW-Print
75x105 cm
Edition of 5


Each artwork is available in
different sizes and editions