Richard Bilingham

Bilingham is most recognized for his series on his mother and father, Liz and Ray. He began taking photographs of his parents to use as reference material for his paintings. These photographs eventually formed a series and a book, called "Ray's a Laugh."

A quote from Bilingham on this series:
'it's not my intention to shock, to offend, sensationalise, be political or whatever, only to make work that is as spiritually meaningful as I can make it - in all these photographs I never bothered with things like the negatives. some of them got marked and scratched. I just used the cheapest film and took them to be processed at the cheapest place. I was just trying to make order out of chaos.'

Interview:
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/T/turner_2001/RichardBillinghamMain.htm

The Closest I could get to a Web Site:
http://www.designboom.com/eng/funclub/billingham.html
or
http://www.arken.dk/content/us/arkens_collection/photography_and_graphics/richard_billingham

Galleries and Museums:
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London

MOMA on Bilingham:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1996/newphoto12/index.html

I have been working with old family film footage for my senior portfolio project. I am interested in family history and interaction. My goal is to capture the rare and private family moments and show both the the beautiful and the darker aspects of these moments. I like the candid, raw, and unfiltered look of Bilingham's work on his parents. I can see both horror and a sort of raw beauty in his work. I find it interesting to see how other present day artists are representing their families through their art.