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Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham: Ray's a Laugh Paperback – January 1, 2000

by Richard. Preface by Robert Frank (BILLINGHAM, RICHARD). Billingham (Author)

4.9 7 ratings

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British photographer Richard Billingham has produced a frighteningly personal artist's book in the tradition of Nan Goldin's "Ballad of Sexual dependency" and R. Crumb's cartoons and films. Here the subject is Billingham's own dysfunctional family torn apart by the ravages of alcoholism and poverty. Billingham documents their squalid surroundings and violent interactions with shocking candor. He turns his camera lens on Raymond, his alcoholic father, stumbling through his life in a drunken stupor; Elizabeth, his mother, covered in tattoos who fills the emotional void in her life with her collection of pets; and Jason, his brother, an aimless young man who is drawn to drugs. This project blasts the lid off of one of our remaining taboos.
Paperback, 8.25 x 11 inches, 112 pages, 75 color illustrations.

Language

English
Publisher

Scalo
Publication date

January 1, 2000
Dimensions

0.51 x 7.99 x 10.98 inches
ISBN-10

3908247373
ISBN-13

978-3908247371
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Charlotte Cotton
16
Hardcover
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scalo; First Paperback Edition (January 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3908247373
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3908247371
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.51 x 7.99 x 10.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,225,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.9 7 ratings

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4.9 out of 5

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nerose

Personal Exorcism from middle England

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2011

A terrific book by Scalo/Billingham. The images of his family are unforgettable, and Billingham is one of those rare souls that breaks through, maybe one pery decade to fly high. Apparently he took these originally as painting studies, (suffering like many from the naive delusion that a painting is 'real art', photography is lesser) but the intimacy and tragedy of it all burns through. I find the book design good, though I don't care for the cover myself.

It seems a personal exorcism of sorts - Billingham coming to terms with who/what/where he came from. Did he really know what he was doing? Probably not, but that doesn't matter. The work owes quite a bit to that school of British Color Documentary Photography from the 1980's-90's, started by Paul Graham (Beyond Caring, A1) and Martin Parr (New Brighton) etc. Though whether Billingham appreciated the heritage, is doubtful.

Since then his work has fizzled and got much less interesting. Galleries and museums now publish books of his random images from around the world, or catalogs with video stills, none of which is even close to this work. But who cares? We have Ray's a Laugh, and its right up there as a really great photo book.

One person found this helpful

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Julia T

Smacks you upside down about 20 min after you've walked away

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2003

When I first looked at this book, I wrote it off as odd, but stupid...snapshots some guy took of his family. So what? We all have photos like this. But this book contains some of the most disturbing photos I have seen in a while, and I've seen a lot that are considered to be disturbing... they are also brillant.
Billingham's photos completely avoid the current trends in contemporary photography (large format, brilliant prints) to offer an honest look at life today. And that life is odd. His prints appear to follow in the tradition of Eggleston's and Friedlander's in that they are of "nothing important", while adding that taste of the raw, the real, which is found in (Larry) Clark's photos. I would probably say his work is closest to Nan Goldin's, but undercut with a calm bitterness or a bitter calm.
This book makes you think a lot about what "art photography" is. It does not use fancy technology or obviously subject matter to push the boundaries of the medium. Definitely a book for the connisseur who wants to reflect on the nature of photography today.

8 people found this helpful

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Jack Carter

Nearly snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2005

I am an avid fan of Billingham and 'Ray's a laugh' really is remarkable. Powerful with a gift for storytelling that reminds me of Nick Waplington (see Living Room & The Wedding), but Billingham here is much more intimate. The courage to put your family on public view, is breathtaking.

So Why do Scala try to mess it all up, with really poor layouts. Some really strong images lose their stock as they disappear into the book gutters, and the compositions of many of the pages and their counter pages are just plain wrong.

A brilliant book marred by bad design. We are indeed fortunate that the images really are strong enough to breakthrough.

2 people found this helpful

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