Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent.
Bruce Usher | Courtesy of Art Partner
Bruce Usher, creative director
Based: London, UK
Representation: Art Partner
How would you describe your work? What’s your trademark?
It’s about context and identity — either interpreting or establishing an environment, then finding novel ways to communicate within it.
How did you get into your chosen career?
I’d paint and draw with my Mom who passed away when I was young, so I had been keeping that alive. Then, much later, my Dad let me drop out of university to work at a studio when both of us had very little understanding of what commercial art was, and I realized it was what I wanted to pursue.
What have you watched/heard/read lately that has inspired you?
The Lift by Marc Isaacs
The Cult of the Street by Henry Bond.
Alvaro Barrington’s Instagram stories.
The KLF by John Higgs.
The Ghosts of Oxford Street by Malcolm McLaren.
Pink Moon by Nick Drake.
Dieter Roth.
What do you love about what you do?
The chance to describe and define cultural moments.
Who do you think is one to watch?
Taylor McNeill.
Selected Work
Image courtesy of Art Partner
Maggi Hambling by Juergen Teller for Middle Plane Issue No. 3, 2020
The key image from my first issue with Middle Plane.
Image courtesy of Art Partner
Arena Homme +, Summer/Autumn 2022
Now and Then. A collection of 24 archive images re-dressed in SS/AW22 with Tamara Rothstein.
Image courtesy of Art Partner
The Drawer by Vince Aletti, 2022
The importance of images illustrated through Vince Aletti’s personal collection, the winner of the Paris Photo PhotoBook of the Year Award, 2023.
Image courtesy of Art Partner
Stefan Cooke AW21 Special Project
Digitally-produced ceramics dressed in Stefan Cooke AW21.
Image courtesy of Art Partner
Arena Homme +, Winter/Spring 2024
A painting of Dominic Fike by Gus van Sant commissioned for a special cover of Arena Homme + with Taylor McNeill.
