Throughout his vibrant body of work, internationally acclaimed British photographer Matthew Murray captures moments of vulnerability, and at times even absurdity, found in everyday life. In the 2014 series Stripper, Murray photographed the UK Pleasure Boys, the UK’s premium male stripping service, his stunning images capturing the seduction, awkwardness and intimacy wrapped up in the experience of portrait sitting.
The story behind Strippers is a brilliant example of the chance encounters so prevalent in Murray’s work. Brimming with humour, Murray remembers the meeting which led to the series:
‘Standing in my friend’s flower shop on a normal looking high street, I looked out of the window and watched with curiosity as several bronzed men, wearing very little and with near perfect physiques, were perfecting suggestive dance routines in the adjacent back garden to the shop. [...] After asking my friend what was going on, she explained with a wry smile that it was the UK Pleasure Boys, from Pleasure Ladies Nights, a group of strippers who had their headquarters next-door. The Saturday girls at the florists would argue about who was taking the bins out, just for a closer glimpse of the UK Pleasure Boys rehearsing their erotic moves out the back.’
- Matthew Murray
In contrast to the comic serendipity of this first encounter, the final images of Stripper are pensive and vulnerable, a homage to the frequent awkwardness of the photography process. During the voiceover of the short film, the men describe their thoughts on their work, their personal lives and their relationships to their bodies. As with earlier series such as SKA, Murray’s approach serves to elicit a special sensitivity in the sitter. While confident during the earlier shooting process, for the accompanying film piece the camera fixedly watches the men, and the longer they pose, the more interesting the image becomes. ‘None of them were shy in front of the camera,’ Murray observed, ‘but with the moving image pieces, it was ironic that some of them clearly looked uncomfortable [...] They were unnerved by it and fidgeted uncomfortably for the two minutes they were asked to stand.’ Through this process, the bravado of the strippers falls away, slowly exposing an awkwardness previously unseen.
Playing on the double meanings of exposure within the work, Murray’s images present a thoughtful exploration of the relationship between performance, vulnerability and exhibitionism. In contrast to the bright lights of the dressing rooms, the portraits are bathed in a dark filter, their dimly lit bodies enticing the viewer towards the image. Unlike the potential for machismo which the series presented, Murray was instead struck by the candid enthusiasm of his subjects, their appreciation of their clients, recounted rituals of masculinity and their self-possession in front of a crowd.
Beth A. Eck writes how often ‘viewing male nudes in classical Western art allows for a separation, a physical distancing between the viewer and the viewed,’ and yet Murray’s work encourages the viewer to draw in closer, taking the familiarity of the highstreet and framing it with the gravitas of Greco-Roman sculpture.
All photographs in this exhibition are available to purchase via the online print store and Artsy.
Please contact Elliott Gallery for further information.