A still photo from a boxing match between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, accompanied with a paparazzi photo showing a relaxed looking Obama sitting in the garden of the White House smoking a celebratory cigarette, features as part of Art Below’s platform exhibition at Regent’s Park tube station this October.
A closer inspection of the picture will, however, reveal that all is not as it seems, for it was taken by Alison Jackson, famed for her satirical spoof photographs in which well-known figures are apparently caught unaware. Posed by a selection of presidential lookalikes Alison Jackson aims to depict the run-up to U.S. Presidential election as a series of below-the-belt blows between potential candidates.
The Jackson photograph at Regent’s Park underground station has been planned to coincide with Frieze art fair, London’s biggest and most prestigious art event. All the works on display in what has temporarily become a public gallery space will feature in Art Below’s Gallery show at Gallery Different (Off Tott Ct. Rd) 12th – 18th October.
Earlier this year Jackson was on the lookout for a Julian Assange. She got one, and did some “great fun” pictures with a fake Hillary Clinton.
Where did she find the lookalike of the WikiLeaks founder? “Oh, that wasn’t a Julian Assange lookalike,” smiles Jackson. “It was Julian Assange. He was very game to get involved. I like to do that sometimes – throw in a real celebrity and see if anyone notices. Nobody knows what’s real and what’s not any more anyway.”
