Barry Kamen began his career as a subject for art, rather than an artist – as a muse.

After meeting stylist Ray Petri and photographer Jamie Morgan in the early 1980s, Barry and his brother Nick became members of Buffalo movement.

Buffalo was a creative explosion that united designers, artists and photographers, with an aesthetic firmly rooted in London’s streets and nightclubs.

The Buffalo movement coincided with Thatcherism. And the Conservatism of the ruling establishment encouraged rebels of every stripe to create alternatives to mainstream culture.

Paradoxically, in marketing their cultural and creative innovations, many of these rebels embodied the entrepreneurial values so beloved of Thatcherism.

Petri was a pioneer - mixing sportswear and couture and deploying cultural and religious symbolism to create powerful images with attitude and style. Jamie Mogan- his narrative in photographs continues to inspire and influence the world of photography. And using a greater diversity of models in advertising and other media than anything seen formerly.

Kamen featured in publications including The Face and i-D - themselves the products of thrusting entrepreneurs - as well as taking part in shows for designers including Vivienne Westwood, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Comme des Garcons with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

At the same time, he expanded upon his model/muse role to become a prominent member of Buffalo, creating his own iconic work within the world of fashion and pop culture.

But Kamen was also a talented artist and was soon to bridge the worlds of fashion and fine art. He had attended Cambridge College of Art and throughout his fashion career maintained a dedicated drawing practice. Even as a child he was a draftsman - Kamen’s father brought back technical drawing paper for his son to use from the factory where he worked. And Kamen has left behind fascinating private sketchbooks containing images of fashion shoots and other key moments in his life.

Now he was ready to enter the art world, and to put his canvases on public view.

The beginnings of Kamen’s public art practice coincide with the rise of the Young British Artists, of whom Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas are the most famous. The YBA branding encompassed what is in reality a loose grouping of artists whose work lacks common themes, other than that many of them become famous for installations rather than paintings or drawings, and that many first emerge into the public eyes due to the patronage of major collector Charles Saatchi.

Kamen coincides chronologically with the YBAs and sometimes exhibits in shows with them, but is not usually closely associated with them aesthetically. But at root the YBAs benefit from an opening up of the British art establishment to younger artists, who have previously been excluded from establishment attention until they are middle-aged, as well as to artists from more diverse ethnic and social backgrounds than before. Kamen’s outstanding artistic talent is propelled into the public arena by this same unstoppable social progress.

In 1989, the year in which Ray Petri dies, Kamen has his first solo show. It is an exhibition entitled ‘Treasure’, at Jean-Paul Gaultier’s studio in Paris. The works sell out within days. In 1991 Kamen embarks on what is perhaps his first mature series, ‘Caged Waits’ (1991-93), some of which remain his most important works. The ‘Caged Waits’ series consists of large abstract paintings based loosely on the format of the human skull and spine, its colours limited to sky blue, cream, black, coffee and graphite. Kamen is beginning to incorporate written words and script into his paintings, creating strong parallels with the art of Cy Twombly – whose work Kamen encountered with great delight and a sense of kinship. While the form of the human spine in some of these works provides a loose figurative framework, the artist arrives at the abstract marks and gestures by observing the inner sensations and rhythms of his own body while painting. The parallels with abstract expressionism, especially the works of Jackson Pollock, who famously had a similar embodied approach, are evident – although Kamen was not influenced by Pollock in any direct way. Kamen extends this somatic concept by asserting that the viewers themselves should have an embodied sense of presence as they observe the works, writing:

‘Most of these paintings are eight foot and some are larger and much of this work was intended to be hung in corridors so the viewer is unable to stand back and had to deal with the surface and rhythms as you pass along them. For the marks I looked at the spine and the skull and the markings on stones I found on a beach in Cornwall. Between these limitations I was able to make three years of very intense work.’

Works from this series can be found in the collections of Kate Moss, Tatjana Patitz, Johnny Depp, Naomi Campbell, Neneh Cherry, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Helmut Lang, among others. Three works on paper from the series are presented in this exhibition, along with two others in this style from a later date.

In 1997 Kamen began the series entitled ‘And’, which depict Kamen’s own left hand, drawn in permanent marker and highly coloured acrylic, set against a highly worked yet abstract backdrop of football crowds taken from newspapers. The wordplay (hand/and) in the title is again an example of Kamen’s use of language in his works and of his fascination with short words that function as connections between other words. Connection is an important theme in these works, as the hand (often in an open position) seems to be eternally reaching out or seeking connection with the abstract human mass behind it, a gesture that serves to demonstrate the imagined (but not easily breached) distance between the individual and the crowd. Kamen wrote of this series:

‘These paintings were a continuation of the theme ‘space between’, and being the word that links everything. In and out. Black and white. Yes and no. Right and wrong. You and me. The backgrounds were of out-of-focus crowds, taken from the sports pages of newspapers. The foreground, my left hand. Drawn freehand. Directly onto the very worked canvas in permanent marker. No margin for error. This created a tension in the making of the piece and also a large distance between the in focus and the out of focus – a false space between.’

The careful, simple figuration of the hand versus the highly-worked, abstract backgrounds, make for a compelling and unusual visual impact. There are three works on paper from the ‘And’ series in this exhibition.

Also presented are works on paper from the AND/SHOULD series from around 2001-04, another example of his use of wordplay. The use of the England flag is also a recurring theme in his work. As a British citizen of Burmese descent, Barry often used the English flag and historical texts to explore what Britishness is and who it excludes. Colonialism, Kamen’s own experience of being British as a mixed-race man, and the power dynamics of the British monarchy were a constant interest. Kamen also loved football and used the English flag in relation to his love of football and support of the national team.

A work from this series was shown as part of the ‘Art-Tube 01 ‘ exhibition of 2001 on Transport for London’s Piccadilly tube line, alongside work from Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono, Vivienne Westwood and others.

The Buffalo aesthetic around inclusion and diversity was a foundation for ongoing creative development for Barry Kamen. In mid-career he broadened out his work around the body, identity and subjection in order to address wider themes ranging from meaning, being and time through to status and power, all of it often underpinned by his conceptions of connection and his ceaseless spiritual exploration.

In 2006 Kamen embarked on a major portraiture series, the 'Is Is It' series, which lasted until 2011. An extraordinary and deeply existential exploration into portraiture, this series pulls together many elements of Kamen’s practice as well as his work in styling. Following in the footsteps of Francis Bacon, Picasso and other twentieth century artists in taking inspiration from Velasquez and other Old Masters, Kamen borrows from the pomp, ceremony and powerful stances that characterise early modern portraiture in the works of Velasquez, Holbein, Titian and da Vinci. Kamen embarks on a shake-up of what portraiture can mean and for whom, painting many figures important to him both professionally and personally. His interest and ability to decode and deconstruct Old Masters, and adapt them into poignant explorations and criticisms of the nature of power, where it is located and what it conceals, is remarkable. Kamen visited the Old Master sections of the London public collections repeatedly and devotedly throughout his life. These visits informed his painting and artistic gestures, and also his fashion styling, which at its best and freest was a continuation of these studies.

During this time Kamen’s existential interest in language, especially short, two or three letter words, manifests in his work. Kamen appears to have had a kind of anti-Dada approach to language; in that instead of professing nonsense or meaninglessness, Kamen’s language instead holds a deep, delicate meaning. He unearths the meaning of the short, connecting words such as ‘and’, ‘is’ or ‘it’, elevating them to profound statements of connectivity or existential questioning. An interest in Zen, and the notions of ‘nothing’, ‘whole’ or ‘infinity’ also informed his linguistic and gestural explorations.
Kamen wrote of these works:

‘Somewhere between the now and the present I find I am lost
I give up searching
ask no questions
the windswept sand
the effortless eagle
is is it
all I call my own
is in the space between ‘

The taking of Old Master portraiture as a base for subsequent abstraction, or indeed as a vehicle to question colonial or historical ‘truths’, has been adopted to extraordinary effect by a new generation of artists, most notably Flora Yukhnovich and Kehinde Wiley. Kamen’s works arguably predate this theme, and indeed his work with it began within Buffalo, where black and Asian models were inserted into the fashion canon with flair, aplomb and no trace of apology. However, Kamen’s work also has a feeling for humanity in a wider sense, and transcends notions of race or nationhood; in essence it is more an exploration of the life force that pulses through all living things, including language.

Fluidly sliding between the abstract and the figurative, layered using repeated two-letter words and phrases written or pasted onto the canvas, either freehand in a kind of ‘meta- script’ or pasted from the day’s newspaper, these works use a limited palette of greys, whites, blacks and pinks. At this point the adhesive plaster motif (either stuck onto canvas, painted/drawn onto as a canvas itself, or painted directly onto the canvas) becomes established in his oeuvre. As of today, this series has not yet been exhibited publicly, although in 2023 a work from this series (a double portrait of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, based on a lenticular coronation card from 1953) was offered for sale by Christie's, the first public sale of a canvas since Kamen's death in 2015.

The ‘Plaster’ series from 2011 continues on from the ‘Is Is It’ series, exploring similar themes, but here Kamen uses the adhesive plaster as a small canvas. A kaleidoscope of human history and existential wanderings, the motifs vary from historical and political figures, to the paper packaging from an Amazon parcel draped with all the panache and attitude of a Papal robe. In this series, Kamen shows the ability to find the timeless that exists between the historical and contemporary, and to pull it all into the present.
In Kamen’s words,

‘With the realisation in 2010 that a fabric plaster is a miniature canvas, the work shifted towards a series of miniatures painted directly onto the surface of the plaster and then building up to larger pieces made up of 50 or more plasters, stuck onto a newsprint paper covered canvas. These pieces were exhibited in Tokyo at the Takeo Kikuchi Atelier in April 2013.’

The plaster motif is very important to Kamen’s work and appears in many forms over time. Initially, the plaster is painted onto the surface using acrylic, becoming a kind of visual signature (rather like the crown in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work). He then begins to paint and draw onto the plasters themselves, and then in his final work, only the colour remains. The plaster motif also denotes the presence of harm, and possibly makes reference to painful moments in Kamen’s life, as well as the need to heal.

Barry Kamen’s talent shone out brightly, but its illumination was tragically shortened. The works in this section are from his last ever series of twelve large-scale paintings. He was working on it when he passed away in 2015 from a rare and undetectable heart condition at the sadly early age of 52.

The works in this series gather together many conceptual elements that Kamen was developing during his whole career as an artist. There is the use of the graphic script and graphite lines that appear in his work from the early 1990s, as well as the wordplay that is so often present in his work; here the words ‘maybe’ and ‘almost’ are etched into the paint using graphite or pasted on using collage. These words, like other linking words or liminal words, fascinated Kamen as they are about connection and openness, and can cleave open possible narratives or futures.

The palette of these works is very singular, and although the sky blue and brown have a clear lineage from earlier usage in the ‘Caged Waits’ series of 1991-93, there are colours in this series that are entirely new to his work. Most importantly, it is during these final works of 2015 that the adhesive plaster motif which is a signature in much of Kamen’s later work is left behind, leaving only its pink colour.

The graphite circle recalls Kamen’s lifelong interest in Zen, and his study of existential existence, as well as a fascination with spaces that represent portals of some kind (drains, cages, holes) and that can represent confinement, but also transcendence of confinement. It is interesting that here the circle is depicted as imperfect and has a certain agitation or even violence present. The broken, rough (yet exquisite) lines recall somewhat the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and the ever-present influence of Cy Twombly is very visible.

Also presented here is a rare and late portrait from 2014 depicting legendary Japanese designer Takeo Kikuchi. Barry had a close and affectionate relationship with Takeo Kikuchi and this portrait, with Kikuchi depicted as a boxer, is an affectionate tribute to him. The images of men in traditional bowler hats references Kikuchi’s love for the British aesthetic and British tailoring, and Kamen uses the word ‘KILLER’ to mean that Kikuchi has a killer style; the highest compliment from a Buffalo member! This portrait is a tribute to the 30 years of friendship and collaboration between Kikuchi and Kamen. There are also smaller works on paper from this period presented here, such as an unusual work on paper from 2015 in which Barry painted in acrylic and graphite on top of National Geographic portraits of two Native American chieftains. The two chiefs are very ‘Buffalo’ in style, with beautiful clothing and a great sense of dignity, presence and power in their stance – something that Barry greatly admired and emulated. The palette of these works is very specific to the year 2015 – his final year of life – and the palette used here reflects his final series, of the twelve large-scale paintings he completed that year. During this time, Kamen experimented by inserting whole textual phrases onto his compositions, often deeply-felt existential phrases that evoke, variously, feelings of timelessness, positivity or acceptance.