David's Michelangelo

Legendary hellraiser David Bailey is as outspoken in person as his high-contrast, almost aggressive pictures would suggest. At 72, he seems to have lost none of his caustic wit, and works as hard as he ever did. On the morning we caught up with the puckish photographer at Hamilton’s gallery, he had been up since the crack of dawn, had already, as he joyously put it "screamed at some people," and was brimming with opinions about BBC news ("a kind of Tupperware party,") his work, and, of course, the human race ("dozy"). We were hoping to learn more about his new show Now. We got more than we bargained for.

How are you ?

I’m divine.

So let’s talk about the show

What show? Oh the flower show.

What’s the inspiration behind it?

Oh, I don’t know about inspiration. You’ve got to do something every day. Better looking at flowers than dog-ends at the end of the day.

Still lifes of flowers—it’s a very classical choice of subject, were you looking at old masters?

No, not particularly. I mean I know lots of [history]… the first real still lifes were in the renaissance, and you can go back to Pompeii and all that stuff.  It’s not just flowers, it’s skulls as well!

Yes—where do the skulls come from?

Dead people.

But where do you get a skull these days?

From the skull shop, where do you think? You saunter up and you buy a skull.

Which one would you recommend though?

Oh I’m not going to make it that easy for you.

Ok, but you weren’t hanging round graveyards looking for props?

No, no. I’ve been collecting skulls for years and years. At least 30 years.

How many are we talking?

I don’t know, I’ve really never counted, they’ve just accumulated. When you’re as old as me you accumulate things.

Where are they kept—do you have your own ossary?

No they’re in the studio, I still use them!

Your most recent exhibitions have been of the 60s work—do you ever get sick of being associated with that?

No, it’s part of my life.

Is there any particular photo you never want to see again?

Of my own or other peoples? There’s lots of other peoples [laughs]. But no, I don’t feel like that, it’s like saying “what’s your favorite color?” It’s stupid, all colors are my favorite color.

Tell me about the exhibition in September, the bronzes.

I’ve always made sculptures, but nobody really knows about it.

No, I didn’t…

People don’t know anything. [The philosopher Hegel] said on his deathbed, “Nobody understood me except one man. And he didn’t really understand.”

What’s been the highlight of your year?

Every day’s a highlight! I suppose going to Afghanistan was quite good, we just came back.

Was this for GQ?

It wasn’t a GQ assignment, it was a Bailey assignment and I dragged Dylan [Jones] and GQ along.

How did you find it—was it frightening, or boring or…

We had a laugh really. I did it for Help the Heroes, so all the money that comes in from it—I’m doing an auction later in the year with Phillip Green—goes to Help the Heroes.

What’s been the most difficult shoot you’ve done?

Not that. That’s different. That’s like street photography, it’s a different kind of photography. I don’t know, the hardest thing is portraits against a white background.

Really? Why’s that?

Because you’ve got nothing to help you. Journalists don’t understand that, literary people don’t understand. They think, “oh, it’s a passport picture.” But you know, get somebody else to do it, and you’ll see the difference.

Is it a case of getting the lighting right…?

No, no, lighting, that’s all bollocks. Anyone can do lighting. There’s a switch on the wall, press it and you’ve got light. That’s all rubbish, that’s photographers that talk bullshit. Most photographers talk bullshit. Most people talk bullshit: painters, writers… Writers are the worst, journalists are the biggest morons in the world, because they never get anything right, they just tell lies, they make it up as they go along.

OK, feeling slightly nervous now...

It’s true. They make it up. One said I was born up North last year.

Is there anyone that you haven’t photographed yet that you would like to?

No.

How about if you could resurrect someone?

Oh, all the usual suspects: Michelangelo, Raphael… Nietzsche, Aristotle. What a great box of pin-ups that would make. [laughs]