FADE TO GREY – ROBYN BEECHE

In the 1980s Australian artist Robyn Beeche captured the excitement, colour and androgyny of the London scene. Fade to Grey, an exhibition of some of her most celebrated photographs, is a trip down the garish and gender-bending rainbow of the decade.

Beeche’s images are tales of outrageous flamboyance, decadence and carefree wealth. Taken before Photoshop, the pictures are inventive, free-spirited visions. They are artefacts of an era of excess and truly capture a period where make up and costume were used to camouflage, confuse, yet reveal a common humanity.

These are illustrations of people. They zoom on facial and somatic features of various shapes and have a painterly quality which fascinates.

Beeche’s work is an iconic part of the ’80s and was instrumental in the development of ideas about fashion and art. This display is a small taste of a time where David Bowie and Vivienne Westwood reigned supreme. (LR)

Until Mar 2, Black Eye Gallery, 138 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst, free, blackeyegallery.com.au