'KAOS' Opening Creates Chaos on Beverly Boulevard

Some of Watson’s iconic beauty images including Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Boukari Kaoulatou and Helena Christensen

STREET STYLE

Estevan Ramos | Thursday, October 26, 2017

Albert Watson greeting guests while signing his “KAOS” book

“I’m always trying to make every shot monumental.”

--- Albert Watson

It was standing-room only on Oct. 19 at the Taschen Gallery (8070 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles) for the opening of KAOS, an exhibit of photographs by Scottish photographer Albert Watson, best known for his fashion, celebrity and art photography. The opening coincided with the release of Watson’s big coffee table book, KAOS. The limited-edition book, published by Taschen, is black, faux-fur covered and signed by the artist.

The photo exhibition showcases 40 years of Watson’s work, including his iconic portraits of Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol and Christy Turlington. The show also includes some of his still-life photos and large-scale landscapes. In all, 33 prints are currently on view at Taschen. The exhibit marks Watson’s largest solo show since the mid ’90s.

The “KAOS” book and its black faux-fur case

“I had done an advertising job with the monkey, Casey, and the monkey and I bonded,” Albert Watson said. “He loved me. At one point, I got up to make a cup of tea and the trainer said, ‘can you make Casey a cup of tea, as well?’ So Casey and I sat at the table and had a cup of tea. After that, I put aside a day to do all these monkey pictures just to do as a personal project. The chimp with the gun was one of them.”