Bowie Taken By Duffy Poster #4 - Scary Monsters - COAM, Madrid 2023

Bowie Taken by Duffy - COAM, Madrid - 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXtJoYqtZLs&t=2s

This Scary Monsters exhibition poster is from the Bowie Taken by Duffy show in Madrid, Spain, which ran from March 15 to June 23, 2023. The exhibition featured over 160 items from the Duffy Archive, most of which had never been seen before.

Taken by Duffy during the last of the Five Sessions with David Bowie in 1980. By this time, Duffy was winding down his photographic career. His studio was no longer filled with cameras, lights and famous faces of the era. It was replaced with tools for his new venture - antique furniture restoration. Without a studio or assistant, Duffy turned to his son Chris for a venue to shoot David Bowie, the only person who could persuade him to get back behind the lens.

Bowie began posing as the perfect pierrot throughout the session, distressing his look until he was reduced to a dishevelled, smeared, smoking clown. This was the final image chosen for the basis of Edward Bell's painting rather than the pristine pierrot featured in the Ashes to Ashes video.

There are 5 posters available from the show, which can be seen here.

The poster is 50cm x 70cm and will be delivered rolled in a poster tube. As a mark of authenticity, all posters from the Duffy Archive are embossed with a large Duffy Archive stamp.

The press release from the show can be seen on David Bowie News.