By Rebecca Drew
INTIMATE portraits of the late great David Bowie, many of which have never been published before, have been unveiled in a personal new book by the music legend’s go-to artist of the day.
The striking photographs and artwork include the vibrant single sleeve for Bowie’s smash-hit, Fashion, black and white before and after photographs taken at the Scary Monsters photoshoot and Bowie’s face merged with that of a lion’s.
The pictures have been released in the book, Unmade Up: Recollections of a Friendship with David Bowie by artist, Edward Bell and is published by Unicorn Publishing Group. The book features anecdotes of Mr Bell’s personal and close relationship with David Bowie.
“David Bowie wasn’t just the maker of music; he became the transcendent oracle and style icon of youth universal,” said Mr Bell in the book’s preface.
“I greeted the shock of David’s death at first with a faint, sad shrug; the impact was slow to dawn.
“If a drowning man is said to see his whole life experience on an instant in total recall, I was to experience a small death that lingered, and as it did so, forgotten incidents gradually returned with an extraordinary clarity.
“I felt compelled to write them all down, with the desire to share them.
“This book is written from the perspective of someone whose path, once upon a time and intermittently, crossed that of a man called David Jones, who also happened to be David Bowie.”
During his lifetime, David Bowie, born David Robert Jones, was one of the world’s best-selling artists with an estimated 140-million albums sold worldwide.
Edward Bell was commissioned by Bowie to do the album cover for Bowie’s 1980 album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and then for Tin Machine. Later, Bowie bought all of Bell’s artwork for his private collection.
“The times spent with him span the 1980s into the early nineties, in London, Venice and Los Angeles,” he added.
“One knew then that what was passing was somehow special and a privilege but was also distinctly aware that to dwell on this knowledge could only distort the experience, even to the extent of losing all perspective.
“Only now, after his death do I look back, and with a considerably maturer eye evaluate and appreciate what was then unravelling.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing: it can be enlightening, it can also be embarrassing.
“I attempt to look back with a measure of honesty, balance and clarity; certainly, with immense gratitude.”
Published by Unicorn Publishing Group, Unmade Up: Recollections of a Friendship with David Bowie by Edward Bell is now available to buy from Amazon for RRP £15.
