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The Legend of Leigh Bowery

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I knew only a little about Leigh Bowery going in, having seen some of Lucien Freud's large scale paintings of him, and also seeing WIGSTOCK the drag queen documentary in which Leigh Bowery makes an astonishing appearance, giving "birth" to Nicola, his assistant, through an amazing theatrical stunt. I couldn't believe my eyes in either case.

The film is terrifically exciting both as information and as entertainment. Atlas has an artist's eye and, or so it seems, a tremendously sympathetic, yet dispassionate, insight into the personality of the mysterious and enigmatic Leigh Bowery. Bowery emerged rapidly from what must have seemed in comparison the very outback of ustralia to the trendy, gender-bending nightclubs of 80s London, one of which he started himself--the infmaous TABOO. He wore a variety of wigs and costumes, but that's understating it, because the costumes took on a life on their own and indeed no other human could have worn them. Interviewees claim that, even though some of the costumes were painful in the extreme to wear for more than a few minutes, Bowery carried on for hours in them, having the time of his life.

One nice thing is that Atlas has footage from every period of Bowery's artistic life, from his challenging one-man show at Anthony D'Offay gallery, in which viewers could watch him through a one way mirror, preen and primp himself all day on a chaise longue to die for, all the way to his last performances with the rock group MINTY. His death from AIDS is treated very sparsely and, I thought, most movingly. One minute he was here, the next he was gone, poof! Like a dandelion. The speakers are all extremely cogent and it seems as though they wanted to put their best foot forward for their late chum, for all of them look fantastic, from Damien Hirst to Boy George. The painter Cerith Wyn Evans steals the show however--he is totally photogenic and, though no longer young, is the sexiest man in the movies right now. Sorry to add a lascivious note to this somber review, but I just have to. He's as riveting as the documentary he appears in.

I bought this on a whim, really. I had very little knowledge of Leigh Bowery, only tidbits I picked up from other artists who were inspired by him. Watching this movie is at turns absolutely hilarious, diabolical, grotesquely fascinating, uplifting, and sad, but ultimately hugely entertaining. No need for me to go into details about the man here, it's the documentary that's in question. It is very well done. Lots of video and film from the era, new interviews with his associates, and the bonus features are incredible, almost an entire movie's worth alone. For anyone with a passing interest in fashion, performance art, or the club scene of the Eighties and early Ninties, this is required viewing. Leigh Bowery lived his life as Art. This documentary is an informative and entertaining testament to that. Recommended very highly.

A must have for anyone in the know about the infamous Leigh Bowery. This is highly recommended particularly if you're aware of Leigh's relationship to people like Boy George or even his and Rosie O'Donnell's not well received Broadway play based on the life and times of Leigh Bowery who was untimely death is only overshadowed by his noteworthy contributions to art and fashion.

"Legend of Leigh Bowery" is a fascinating documentary about the late Australian performance artist. Bowery is not so well-known here in the US, yet his outrageous looks/performances have influenced fellow Australian diva Sia (We Are Born),'80s icon Boy George (Colour By Numbers),the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen (Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation), as well as performance artist/diva Lady GaGa (The Fame Monster [Deluxe Edition]). Leigh Bowery specialized in the monstrous and outrageous, yet he posed for earthy paintings by Lucian Freud.

Leigh Bowery began in rural Australia, raised by strict members of the Salvation Army... yet he was attracted to art. He enjoyed fashion design and the extremes of body art. Shock value was his stock in trade--be he prancing around nude with a fake female genitalia (made by painfully modifying his own), giving "birth" onstage to his assistant, anything involving body fluids, or singing about being a "worthless man" in a lesbian bar. Bowery had much in common with the otherworldly divo Klaus Nomi (The Nomi Song - The Klaus Nomi Odyssey). Both were ill at ease with their own bodies. Nomi thought he was from another planet.. while Bowery constantly engaged in gender play. He'd be Bart Simpson in drag-or cover himself up completely in leather save for his eyes. His outfits seemed to go for being as painful and as painstaking as possible. The body itself was the work in progress. Bowery saw himself as a performance artist. He didn't enjoy great fame, but he did pave the way for self-proclaimed performance artist/pop singer Lady GaGa. As an artist, he was fascinated with the grotesque, the extreme, the controversial. His art was designed to provoke.

"Legend of Leigh Bowery" is an engrossing, avant garde documentary.

WOW! get it, NOW!

Im so excited to own this DVD.

YOU! what are you waiting for ??? hit order NOW, before they are out of print.

Leigh Bowery is a (sub?)cultural icon and should be honored forever.

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p.s.

If you paid money for the party monster DVD , do yourself a favor and get this = you can see where micheal alig and those 'clubkids' got alot of creative 'inspiration'

Leigh Bowery makes every other shocking artist seem like a lame embarassment. He made no excuses. In 33 years, he lived more life than four people ever could. This film is wonderfully made, with great direction by Charles Atlas. It is chock full of interviews from people who knew Leigh the best. It's poignant, powerful and at times repulsive (in a good way, of course). Leigh Bowery was the most imaginative, no holds barred, fantastic human being I think I've ever seen. I didn't even know him, but I know I miss him.

Before watching this film, I had never heard of Leigh Bowery. Afterwards, I realized that I recognized Leigh Bowery's and Michael Clark's collaborative influence in a number of avant garde rock music videos coming out of the 1980's.

Growing up in a small town in Southern Australia, Bowery soon left his loving but ultraconservative religious family for the siren's call of London, where the gender bending '80's provided the perfect venue for Bowery's particular talents. Bowery's interests were in fashion, but not straightforward fashion - rather, fashion as a subversive art form. Frequently grotesque and always provocative, Leigh's costumes hid and distorted human proportions and features. His costumes are very hard to describe and really must be seen to be fully appreciated. Some look like animated doodle art, others like more extreme versions of the outfits Mexican wrestlers wear. Still others completely defy conventional description. Leigh frequently used his own body as a canvas to display his incredibly detailed costumes. Almost all have a strange alien beauty to them.

The documentary is a pastiche of still photographs, film and video footage of Bowery's performance art pieces, television interviews where Bowery was a guest and contemporary interviews with Boy George, Bella Freud, Sophie Fiennes, Michael Clark, and a variety of artist/performers, gallery owners, designers and family members.

It is harder to draw a bead on the man behind the masks. Leigh seems to have almost always been in performance mode. Even those closest to him seem unable to give a clear picture of who he was, and Leigh appears to have had very little interest in being understood. Rather, his whole raison d'etre seems to have been about getting in people's faces and pushing the social envelope. From the little I could glean of Bowery as a person, he seems to have been a mass of contradictions: A loving son and a world-class debaucher, a generous friend and a complete narcissist, a tireless party-enthusiast whose brief light was extinguished far too soon. Bowery appears his most human and humane in a series of nude oil paintings by Lucian Freud where he served as the artist's model. These paintings are quite extraordinary and revealing.

Whether or not you see Bowery's fashions as guerilla art or theatrical nonsense really comes down to personal taste. Be forewarned, most of Bowery's extreme performance art is truly shocking and offensive. I had to fast forward through any number of scenes that made my hair stand on end.

I found some of the most touching and accessible scenes in the film to be the interviews with Bowery's father and sister, who loved Leigh without judgment, and who never make excuses or apologies for him. I think this is the way families should function but seldom do.

Love him or hate him, Leigh Bowery was unique and original. When he expired from AIDS in 1994, he left a rich visual legacy which this film beautifully catalogs.

This movie gives you education on Leigh Bowery. He was so innovative that everyone interested in art, fashion and culture NEED to see this movie. It is well done and the "talking heads" are as interesting as the subject. It is shocking, it is over-the-top, and it is brilliant. SEE THIS FILM!

What can you say about Leigh Bowery? He is/was both beautiful and horrifying at the same time. You feel compelled to watch him but wish you didn't. Charles Atlas' documentary itself however is EXCELLENT. We get to know Leigh as well as he allowed anyone to know him. Interviews with family and friends creates a fairly complete portrait, combined with great footage of Leigh's Club Days. Leigh Bowery was indeed an Artist in every sense of the word. He himself was his own masterpiece and the world is poorer for his abscence. Leigh, you are sadly missed.

Leigh Bowery was ahead of his time. All these new "shock" artists cannot live up to Leigh. The movie let me know more about him and his art.