Tom Oxley: Face To Face: The Moving Portrait

As part of the Hall’s free reflect exhibition series and for one night only, Tom Oxley will be presenting his latest exhibition on the gallery walls of the Royal Albert Hall- Face to Face: The Moving Portrait. These will be three-minute high definition video portraits, 16ft in height, projected onto the Royal Albert Hall’s gallery walls, overlooking the main auditorium, and will be the first time that an exhibition has been displayed at the Royal Albert Hall in this way.

Oxley recently embarked on a personal project of ‘moving portraits’ that led to his first major solo exhibition at the end of 2012. This innovative portfolio of video portraits includes prolific musicians of our time such as Liam Gallagher, Johnny Marr, Azealia Banks, Friendly Fires, Professor Green, Mark Ronson, Wretch 32, The Maccabees and Miles Kane amongst others being projected larger than life onto the Royal Albert Hall’s gallery interior walls. This enables the viewer to study each subject up close and personal, providing them with an intimacy into the character of the artist that they have never been seen before.

The concept suggests the power of the conventional single frame can evolve into its own unique narrative. The “moving photograph” is a new convergence of media techniques allowing us to see the subject in (literally) a new light. The portraiture landscape has changed incredibly in the last few years, allowing Oxley to progress with this new and exciting venture, whereby directing subtle movements from the subject, he creates a striking visual impact.

The brand new LED projectors from Casio allow the frames to be even larger and sharper than ever before. The scale of the artists’ portraits will be arresting in size and the viewer will feel almost voyeuristic as they look on and feel alive with who is in front of them.

Tom Oxley said, “My exhibition is predominantly about pushing forward a combination of photography and video together to create a new visual platform. The technique used for the installation pays homage to the practice of 19th century photographers and to emulate these methods in the 21st century for a modern audience. It’s an honour and a privilege to exhibit work here in the main auditorium of perhaps the most iconic venue in the world. It feels absolutely perfect to be showing large scale portraits in the Royal Albert Hall where so many music legends have already made their mark”

This event is part of the Royal Albert Hall’s More At The Hall series which presents a diverse range of excellent value and free events outside of the main auditorium including jazz, classical and world music, comedy shows and art exhibitions. The Hall looks to provide memorable visitor experiences for all and, as a charity, these own-promoted events form a part of its extensive public benefit remit.