Tate Modern celebrates the provocative and boundary-pushing career of Leigh Bowery, one of the most fearless and original artists of the 20th century. In his short but extraordinary life, Bowery (1961–1994) forged a truly unique path. Known variously as an artist, performer, club kid, model, TV personality, fashion designer and musician, Bowery took on many different roles but always refused to be limited by convention. He reimagined clothing and makeup as forms of sculpture and painting, tested the limits of decorum, and created a new form of performance art to explore the body as a shape-shifting tool with the power to challenge norms of aesthetics, sexuality and gender.
For the first time, Tate Modern brings together Bowery’s outlandish and dazzling costumes alongside painting, photography and video to explore how he changed art, fashion and popular culture forever. Charting the journey of a young boy from the quiet suburb of Sunshine in Melbourne, Australia, who became a globally recognised cultural figure, Leigh Bowery! offers a portrait of an outrageous, complex and creative man who left a distinct and undeniable mark on contemporary art and beyond.
Moving from the home to the club, the stage to the gallery and beyond, visitors to are invited to step inside Bowery’s dynamic creative world. Arriving in London from Australia in 1980, Bowery wanted to craft a form of artistic expression that resisted the norms of dominant culture. The exhibition will explore how this played out within the city’s alternative club scene, captured by the likes of photographers David Swindells, Derek Ridgers and Alex Gerry. Emerging alongside a network of notable figures such as Trojan, Scarlett Cannon, Boy George and Princess Julia, Bowery cemented his international reputation with the launch of his own club night called Taboo in 1985 – a liberating space offering Bowery and friends the freedom to explore their identity and transform themselves. Famously asking “How many meanings has OK got?!” Bowery thrived on appearing exceptional and set himself apart from the crowd through his bold and distinctive style. More than 20 of the intricate costumes he designed and hand-crafted, many with collaborator Nicola Rainbird – who later became his wife – and corsetier Mr Pearl, are brought together at Tate Modern for the first time. Photographs by Fergus Greer illustrate how Bowery brought these ‘Looks’ to life in animated ways, while films by John Maybury and Baillie Walsh reveal the collaborative nature of the time. A music and video installation by filmmaker and DJ Jeffrey Hinton, made especially for the exhibition, conveys both the dream-like revelry and provocations of the Taboo-era, transporting audiences back to a vibrant underground community.
The exhibition features artworks by a host of artists including Leigh Bowery, Peter Ashworth, Charles Atlas, Rachel Auburn, Mark Baker, Christine Bateman, Robyn Beeche, Brendan Beirne, Lee Benjamin, Bruce Bernard, Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, Thomas Bowery, Sheila Burnett, Michael Clark, Michael Costiff, Peter Doig, Matthew Donaldson, Cerith Wyn Evans, Robert Fox, Lucian Freud, Fiona Freund, Alex Gerry, Boy George, Fergus Greer, David Gwinnutt, A M Hanson, Chris Harris, Peter Paul Hartnett, Richard Haughton, Jeffrey Hinton, Dick Jewell, Nils Jorgensen, MC Kinky (Feral is Kinky), Nick Knight, Steve Lafreniere, Jean Claude Lagrèze, Matthew R. Lewis, John Maybury, MINTY, John Moore, Pete Moss, Mike Owen, Nigel Parry, Mr Pearl, Alan (Lanah) Pillay, Tom Pilston, Steve Pyke, Josh Quinton, Nicola Rainbird, Gordon Rainsford, Derek Ridgers, Johnny Rozsa, Pierre Rutchi, Ellen Van Schuylenburch, Steve Speller, Dr Spiros, Nelson Sullivan, Dave Swindells, Sue Tilley, Richard Torry, Trojan, Donald Urquhart, Baillie Walsh, Fred Whisker, Patrick Whitaker & Keir Malem and Stephen Willats.
With the energy and reverie of Taboo still echoing in the distance, Bowery pirouetted out of the nightclub and onto the stages of the dance and art worlds. In 1984, he was invited to design the costumes for Michael Clark’s performances, beginning a collaboration that would last almost a decade. His work with Clark is represented in the exhibition through excerpts from Charles Atlas’s quasi-fictionalised documentary Hail the New Puritan 1986, and the film Because We Must (1989). Bowery’s exhibitionism came to the fore in 1988, when he posed behind a two-way mirror in a commercial gallery over the course of five days. The performance, as recorded by Cerith Wyn Evans, staged not just his body but the very act of looking. Showing how Bowery transformed the sterility of the gallery into a social space, filmmaker Dick Jewell’s What’s Your Reaction to the Show? 1988 reveals the honest opinions of friends and passersby who witnessed this ambitious feat.
It was Bowery’s close friendship with Lucian Freud that marked a turning point in his relationship with the contemporary art world in the late 1980s. Several of Freud’s paintings of Bowery are displayed at Tate Modern, showing how the renowned artist presented a fresh view of this flamboyant performer. Prompted by the intimacy of posing for Freud, Bowery increasingly began using his body as raw material, notably stating “flesh is the most fabulous fabric”. Portraits by photographers including Nick Knight and films by Charles Atlas will explore how Bowery created a form of contemporary surrealism, reimagining himself as an alien-like creature. This extended to his notorious ‘birth’ performances, in which Bowery strapped Nicola Rainbird to his chest and gave ‘birth’ to her on stage, showing just how much he pushed the limits of the human form while reimagining ideas around gender and drag culture.
The exhibition culminates with Bowery’s foray into music with his band Minty. Uniting his love of performance, shock value and humour, it enabled him to achieve the full expression of his creative ideas, showcasing his constant desire to experiment, take risks and create a space for questions. Bowery’s final performance at London’s Freedom Café in November 1994 was attended by a young Lee ‘Alexander’ McQueen and Lucian Freud, demonstrating how far-reaching his influence on the worlds of both art and fashion had become.
Leigh Bowery! is organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with Nicola Rainbird, Director and Owner of the Estate of Leigh Bowery. Curated by Fiontán Moran, Curator, International Art; Jessica Baxter, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern; Nicola Rainbird, Director and Owner of the Estate of Leigh Bowery; and Margery King, Artistic Advisor of the Estate of Leigh Bowery.
Leigh Bowery! is at Tate Modern from 27th February to 31st August, 2025.
