For artist Chris Levine, Andy Warhol is always watching. A genuine self-portrait by the great Pop artist gazes out from the wall of Levine’s studio in Hampshire, given to him by a collector after learning that Warhol was a huge inspiration. “He said I could have one if I wanted. I thought he was joking, but a few weeks later he turned up with a big roll. It’s been looking at me.”
And Warhol’s fingerprints are all over Levine’s latest project, commissioned by The London Standard: a series of arresting, colourful portraits of great artists to mark the start of Frieze London 2024.
Levine, who famously photographed Queen Elizabeth II, Kate Moss and Grace Jones all with their eyes shut, told the latest sitters he was indeed “channelling my inner Warhol” ahead of the shoots. “They were all OK with that. We all love a bit of Warhol. If he was alive today, I would have loved to have photographed him.”
Using the Danish Church near Regent’s Park as a studio, he photographed Cornelia Parker, David Shrigley, Daniel Lismore, Yinka Shonibare, Rana Begum and Rachel Whiteread, and then later Gilbert and George, for the images in this edition. They will also be displayed at the Four Seasons Hotel on Park Lane until the end of the month.
“It was an interesting, unexpected project,” Levine says when we catch up for a chat. “I’ve often thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to shoot some of the greats?’” And it went so well he now wants to expand the series.
During the sessions, he asked each sitter to relax and then gave them the shutter release to take the shot when they were still, jokingly coming up with the term “inner selfie”. “I wanted to capture them, their inner light, their beauty, the beauty of their individuality. It wasn’t posing or trying to be something they’re not.”
For those who may not know Levine’s name, they have almost certainly seen his images. The photograph that made the artist’s reputation was one of the late Queen with her eyes closed, which has been seen around the world. The National Portrait Gallery called the work — named Lightness of Being — the most evocative royal image by any artist… quite some accolade. Though he’s not a photographer, he’s keen to stress, “I’m a light artist”.
Born in Canada before moving to the UK with his family aged two, Levine’s father was an engineer and his mother a painter. With his career, it seems he has drawn from both. Initially he wanted to be an architect but decided to go to art school instead “and have a good time”. He went to Chelsea School of Art and Central Saint Martins, where he started experimenting with lasers.
At the same time he was a drummer in a band called Triangle, “a cross between Pink Floyd and The Police. We had something, but if that had happened I’d have been dead. I’d have been part of the 27 Club, the way I was going.”
He had a drink and drug habit and it “all started going wrong”, landing him in rehab. “Addiction killed my dad, my grandad, my uncles. By the time I left art school I was an addict and alcoholic. Luckily, I got into recovery early.
“Having said that, I haven’t had a drink for 35 years but I’ve been in treatment four times since for prescription drugs, medicating myself and not wanting to feel. I dealt with the alcohol. If I’d been drinking alcohol and been on the pills we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”
Recovery has helped him find himself, which taught him that “artistic expression comes from the soul” rather than from anything else.
His artistic expression is, he says, “production heavy”; he uses all sorts of cutting-edge technology and formats to experiment, then plays with the image after. The “voodoo” is using sound frequencies to relax the sitters, though it can occasionally be too effective. “With Sir Elton John, a portrait I did for his retirement, I had him sitting on a speaker which had 136.1 Hz, which is the vibration of ‘Om’. Things like this can calm you — after all we are all vibrations. He got so calm he nodded off.”
Levine talks a lot about sound and light frequencies, meditation and sacred geometry. And if it all sounds, as one interviewer called it, a bit “woo-woo”, he’s never anything but an engaging and fascinating interviewee. Also, whatever frequencies he’s tuned into, they’re working — he looks a decade younger than his 64 years.
I asked the Queen if she wanted to rest. She withdrew into herself, closed her eyes, I took the shot and the rest was history
The sitting with the Queen came about by surprise. The Jersey Heritage Trust commissioned the portrait to mark 800 years since it split with France and pledged allegiance to the British crown. “When I got the call, I thought it was a friend pulling my leg.” After three years in the diary and immediately following a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat — yes, there’s a lot of meditation chat during our conversation: “If we all did meditation there would be no wars, we’d evolve quicker, and we’d all love each other. Why isn’t everyone meditating?” — he found himself in front of the Queen.
The session went so well that she granted him another. “All the magic happened in the second sitting. There was a special camera system. It took a long time for the camera to recalibrate in between shots so I asked if she wanted to rest. She withdrew into herself, closed her eyes, I took the shot and the rest was history.”
The official image for Jersey, titled Equanimity, was the first holographic portrait of the Queen, eyes open, which was on the cover of Time and hangs in Mont Orgueil Castle on the largest of the Channel Islands. Levine later met her privately at Windsor and told her the title had come to him during meditation. “She shared with me that her meditation was her gardening at Balmoral.”
It was only a couple of years later that he was looking at the outtakes, “all kinds of stuff”, and he found the image of the Queen with her eyes shut. “I though, ‘Oh f***, that’s nice.’ I hadn’t seen it for years. I did something to it on the laptop and it happened. It was like, bang. I just channelled it.”
The NPG marked the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 with The Queen: Art and Image exhibiting 60 of the most powerful images of the monarch ever made, opening and closing it with Levine’s images. “That was a game-changer, and I thought I ought to take this portraiture more seriously.”
The fame of the image has created issues. “It’s been a double-edged sword because it’s like, ‘What am I, the Queen guy?’ It’s like the classic first hit album. That’s why I wanted to do the show at Houghton Hall. Because what I’m really into is lasers. Some really out-there, full-on, experiential works. I’ve always wanted to do work that was original and alternative — that’s why I started looking at lasers and holograms at art school. Art doesn’t have to be rectangular things on walls.”
After art school he became one of the few holographic designers in the world, though dealing with the corporate world all got a bit much. And after landing the Queen’s portrait he decided to make the leap to becoming an artist. He found himself in demand for his portraits, and that led to light work too. He photographed Grace Jones, and also designed one of the most arresting effects in her live shows, a laser hitting her crystal bowler hat when she performs Love Is the Drug. The Times described it as “a defining moment in pop culture”.
Another of his iconic images is of Kate Moss, which led to more of his work with lights. He tells the story of being at the supermodel’s 40th birthday, at 4am standing outside with Jazzy B, Boy George, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood, with Moss dancing half naked in the rain, which his laser installation had turned purple. “I will remember it to my grave,” he says.
It was then that he met Lord Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton Hall in Norfolk. “We said, ‘We have to remember this, it’s mind-blowing.’ He later said that was the moment he decided to ask me to do a show.” Levine’s major light installation there in 2021 followed shows by big-name artists including Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst.
I ask in which direction he wants to take his art and how far he can push it. “I’ve started developing work to be shown at Giza and Stonehenge, where English Heritage have given me permission to meditate in the stone circle. I’m looking at sacred sites as inspiration for my next chapter of work.”
And he’s still embracing the latest advancements in tech. “We’re in a technological revolution and it’s getting hot,” he says. “Recent developments in VR have really piqued my interest… and how I can use it to create super-sensory and trance-inducing states.” It feels like Warhol, looking down from the walls, would very much approve.
