Miles Aldridge rose to prominence in the mid-nineties with his arresting, highly stylised photographs with references to film noir, art history and pop culture. An acclaimed colourist, he renders elaborate mise-en-scènes in a palette of vibrant acidic hues. These glamorous, frequently eroticised images probe society’s idealised notions of domestic.
Born in London in 1964, the son of famed art director and illustrator Alan Aldridge, his interest in photography began at an early age when he was given a Nikon F camera by his father. He went on to study graphic.
The father, Alan Aldridge, whose distinctive designs graced the covers of classic albums by the Who and Elton John and filled the bestselling book The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, has died at the age in 2017.
At just 23, Aldridge designed the front cover for the second album from The Who, 1966’s A Quick One, which contained Pete Townshend’s mini opera of the same name. The pop art illustration depicts the young band’s four members playing their instruments – or in Roger Daltrey’s case, singing into a microphone. Never mind that the images don’t really resemble Townshend, Daltrey, John Entwistle and Keith Moon… the imagery was apt for the times.
Born in North London to graphic designer Alan Aldridge, Miles grew up accustomed to celebrity – John Lennon was a family friend, as well as Eric Clapton and Elton John.[2] When he was a child, he posed with his father for Lord Snowdon. At the age of 12, Alan Aldridge moved to Los Angeles where he formed a new family. Miles stayed in London with his mother Rita, a housewife, and his brother Marc and sister Saffron. His two half-sisters Lily and Ruby are models. He studied illustration at the Central St Martins to follow his father's steps and afterwards briefly directed pop videos (for bands including The Verve, The Charlatans and Catherine Wheel).
Aldridge’s major museum exhibitions include his upcoming retrospective Virgin Mary. Supermarkets. Popcorn. Photographs 1999 – 2020 at Fotografiska, New York, which opened 7th May 2021 having first appeared at Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm (2020-2021), solo shows at The Lumiere Brothers Photography Centre, Moscow (2019) and OCA, São Paulo (2015) and I Only Want You to Love Me at Somerset House, London (2013). In 2014, he was commissioned by Tate Britain.
Read also Miles Aldridge: Models and Mythology (The New Yorker)
Photogallery on Miles Aldridge official web
