As promised, here is the new video for Wendy’s song ‘Starless Night’, produced in collaboration with experimental film-makers Neon O’Clock Works for TEST Magazine. Additional illustration is by Izzie Klingels.
Don’t forget, if you’re in Edinburgh for the festival, you can see Wendy performing and singing from Friday in the theatrical production Lulu, directed by Rachel Snider, at Zoo Roxy.
Next week, Wendy reprises her role as Olga the Jazz Chanteuse as Rachel Snider’s Lulu heads to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After a successful run at the Hackney Empire last October the surreal expressionist play, will return for two limited runs in August (6 – 12th, 15 – 30th) at Zoo Roxy (Venue #115).
Too controversial to be staged in the playwright’s lifetime, Frank Wedekind’s infamous sex tragedy is wildly filled with circus and silent film influences with an eclectic musical palette colouring the unfolding debauchery. Set amongst an adult-sized toy theatre (designed by Heidi Smith) this is a show too unique to be missed.
The play opens with Wendy’s song, Reaching For The Moon, the video for which you can watch here.
Download the full press release here.
Here’s one more song from the play for you – Bouquet of Blues:
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If you can’t make it to Edinburgh, LULU will also be webcast live on 10th September, on Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio. Nick Knight himself will be filming the production with a live stream of rehearsals being broadcast during the week running up to the final performance. We’ll keep you updated.
Lastly, TEST magazine are publishing a new video for Wendy’s song ‘Starless Night’ (which was featured in Lulu), produced in association with Neon O’Clockworks (hair stylist Tomihiro Kono and art director Sayaka Maruyama) will be online next week, so watch this space!
Music news:
Wendy’s Jazz Club night at Bungalow 8 returns on 28 April. This time on show will be the excellent Ivo Neame Quartet, lead by the talented London pianist and member of Loop Collective. Once again, a late-night jam session hosted by Wendy Bevan will follow.
Non-members are welcome to attend (entrance is free) but RSVP is essential and there will be a list on the door.
Wendy is now on Ellison Lee’s books! The agency was established 15 years ago in London, and represent other brilliant photographers such as Jason Hetherington, Ulla Nyeman and Magnus Reed. They also represent stylists including Katie Felstead, who worked with Wendy on the Test Magazine shoot last year.
Wendy takes to the other side of the lens in this shoot for Italian Marie Claire’s March issue, under the eye of the brilliant Koto Bolofo as part of a Female Fashion Photographers shoot.
Music news: Wendy has been asked to host and run a new Jazz Club night at Bungalow 8. The private members’ club housed in fashionable St Martins Lane Hotel – opens its doors to the jazz world with the launch of the monthly event.
Showcasing the diverse talents of the thriving London jazz scene it kicks off with two sets from the award-winning Partisans (featuring Jazz Musician of the Year Phil Robson and Brit-Jazz pioneer Julian Siegel) and a late-night jam session hosted by Wendy Bevan herself.
Non-members are welcome to attend (entrance is free) but RSVP is essential and there will be a list on the door. Be there for the Chivas drinks reception from 8pm.
As promised, here is Wendy’s film, ‘Reaching for the Moon’ which was premiered at the ICA last night. It was conceived together with a recent fashion shoot that Wendy did for Italian Marie Claire, which will be on the site shortly.
Exciting news – Wendy is working on her first short film! It was created and inspired by the recent fashion shoot that Wendy did for Italian Marie Claire. The ‘Circus’ themed shoot is due to be published in the April issue of the magazine. The film soundtrack is also performed by Wendy, and as such it forms a fusion of her work in both music and fashion photography.
The short, titled ‘Reaching for the Moon’ will be premiered at the ICA on 10 March as part of the Birds Eye View film festival. More information, and tickets, available here.
Test magazine’s first exhibition opened yesterday, and two of the images that Wendy shot for them are on show. Other artists on display include Danny Sangra, Poppy De Villeneuve, and Mel Bles. The exhibition is open until 24th February 2010 at 13 Kingly Street W1B 4PW.
Wendy with Ian Bruce of The Correspondents
Director Rachel May Snider with boutique owner Cassie Beadle
Happy New Year. Last Friday we had another reason to celebrate, as it was Wendy’s birthday. She celebrated with friends at Bungalow 8, London. Here’s some photos from the night.
Model Agent Lynch with Matthew Wade
Wendy with model Erik Munro
Wendy with her father, Stewart
Italian Vogue
i-D 2006
Patrick Wolf wears Wendy Bevan necklace for Dazed and Confused
Between 2004 & 2007, Wendy created dozens of weird and wonderful pieces. Her work did not go unnoticed, and was featured in magazines including Italian Vogue, Dazed and Confused and I-d. She was commissioned by the likes of Kylie Minogue and Gwen Stephanie, and was stocked in the POP Magazine Boutique at Comme Des Garcon.
Will Wendy be releasing any more jewellery lines? Well, although she is currently focussing on her photography career, who knows what the future holds!
Wendy has spent the last week in France, visiting the Paris Photo fair. When she wasn’t attending the dozens of stands in the Carrousel du Louvre, she had time to play the modern flâneuse, wandering around some of the city’s current art attractions.
Miles Aldridge – Diva for Numero 2005
While visiting the chic fashion outlet, colette, she was reminded of fellow British photographer Miles Aldridge, who currently has work showing at the store. The above shot for Numero epitomises his talent for theatricality. He is represented by Hamiltons in London so look out for him there, and more of his work is visible at his website.
Wendy also dropped by the new exhibition on Fellini at Jeu de Paume. Pulling together iconic images and moments from his legendary career, it makes an ambitious attempt to interpret his work. More info here.
Lastly, the improvisational Belle Epoche dancer, Isadore Duncan, who Wendy describes as “a real icon of mine” is remembered in France’s first major exhibition on her. The intensely controversial and often tragic life of the bohemian star who nearly became a Soviet icon, is documented through sculpture, drawings and paintings at a brand new show at the Musée Bourdelle in Montparnasse.
Halloween: a night where everyone has an excuse to show off their secret flair for theatrical costume and gory make-up. Which means it’s a great time for portrait photography, which is exactly what Wendy was doing on All Hallow’s Eve. Called upon by luxury boutique Browns Focus to provide official photography for their third annual Halloween party, in the form of a pop-up photobooth. As you can see, no camera tricks, just treats.
At Shepherd’s Bush Pavilion, an appropriately sinister 1920s former cinema, Wendy welcomed the likes of Henry Holland and the Acne Fashion team to pose in their Halloween best, as the likes of Arthur Baker and Marina & The Diamonds played under the light of a thousand carved pumpkins.
To see the rest of Wendy’s photos from the night, see the gallery here.
Earlier this month we found Wendy moonlighting as narrator and songstress Olga in Frank Wedekind’s Lulu at the Hackney Empire, as directed by Rachel Snider. Visually, the play drew on a mix of German expressionism and French physical theatre, with more than a pinch of seedy vaudeville bohemia a la Toulouse Lautrec. Like nothing you’ve seen this side of the Weimar Republic, the audience was party to a hungover wooden minuteman recounting his lurid sexcapades to a lion; a lesbian countess absconding on murder charges; and the gory death of a (Pierrot) clown. Wendy interspersed these scenes with a series of languid and melancholy songs including a haunting version of ‘Wild is the Wind’.
The production referenced a widely Austro-German expressionist aesthetic, and particularly the early Dresden ‘Die Brücke’ movement. The grotesquely decadent mutations seen in paintings by Kirschner and Heckel are reflected heavily in the visual narrative and constantly shifting costumes and make-up.
Of course, this echoes many of the themes found throughout Wendy’s work, and thus it was a great opportunity to draw together her artistic and literal voice. For the last four years, Wendy has been performing as a Jazz and burlesque artist throughout London (listen <here>) and it was very special to see the atmosphere of her photos and songs distilled into a performance, play and character.
The show had a great reception, with favourable reviews from Vogue and What’s on Stage. Though the run has now finished, Wendy captured the beautiful costumes and set (Heidi Smith) in a series of exquisite photographs, the rest of of which are viewable here. The above poster was designed by Izzie Klingels – see more of her work here.
Welcome to the Wendy Bevan’s blog and online gallery. Wendybevan.com will be a platform to display her Photo shoots as they’re published here, accompanied by this blog, which will form a compilation of things that inspire and surround Wendy’s work. We’ll be posting new photos and articles on a weekly basis. If you have any enquiries or require any further information about Wendy’s work, or want to let us know what you’re interested in seeing coverage of on the Blog please email:
james@wendybevan.com
James Read – Blog Editor/ Assistant
