The versatility of American photographer Roe Ethridge has become evident throughout his long-lasting career, where the range from commercial photography to the most artistic approach to the craft and everything in between has been explored to the point of being able to exhibit pieces of his work in the most important museum all across the globe and work with some of the biggest names in the fashion industry without compromising his very own personal style. Following a recent exhibition with the same name—minus the II—Gagosian announced the showcase of Happy Birthday Louise Parker II, where on their galleries on Gstaad and London and until September 8th and 28th, respectively, the audience can enjoy the various ways he has portrayed his muse that give name to the exhibit, aside from other pieces of his vast trajectory.
Ethridge doesn't subject himself to any rules or categories when it comes to expressing his own vision; no matter if the context is commercial, editorial, or artistic, the allure of someone who plays by his own rules is what makes his work so attractive and unique. Even when exploring different styles and set-ups of photography, including fashion shots, still-life, and portraits, the invisible threat that unites them all is evident, and exhibitions like Happy Birthday Louise Parker II, are proof of that. Following Ethridge’s recent exhibition Happy Birthday Louise Parker at the gallery 10 Corso Como in Milan, the model and muse that gives name to it is the most prominent and frequent face along the Gsaad and London galleries, both that work as a pair of different but interconnected selections of Roe’s work.
Intimate and natural situations of Louise Parker, like the one in Louise (2014), merge with more staged and prepared settings, as seen in Louise in a Chair for Double (2015), visualising the intertwining of life and representation, the everyday and the staged, where each one of these ideas is taken from the normal to the extreme. Works from the photographer for brands like Burberry and Comme des Garçons are also present in the exhibition, like Duck for Burberry (2023) and Duck on Glass for Burberry (2023), on view in London and Gstaad, respectively, demonstrating the complementary and connected status of both showings. More personal pieces, like a self-portrait with his son Me and Auggie (2015), add depthness to the collection that becomes part of a narrative where the aesthetic codes of fashion and the differently complex visual intersections of everyday life connect and coexist.
