Through the lens of... Andy Price

Introducing the second of our monthly series in which we throw the spotlight on emerging photographers who are Wallpaper* contributors. Every month one photographer is commissioned to capture the upfront Newspaper section – an artist’s residency in print form – here we explore their vision further.

Tahitian milk coffee shots, by Dominique Ansel

This cookie and milk creation from Dominique Ansel, the inventor of the Cronut, consists of a shotglass made from biscuit and filled with vanilla-infused milk. ‘Ursula’ jog, £40, by Ursula Munch-Petersen, for Kähler, from Skandium.

(Image credit: Andy Price)

By Harriet Lloyd-Smith

last updated 5 October 2022

in Features

Andy Price was commissioned to shoot a variety of spaces, fashion and objects including ceramics by the Castiglioni brothers and a tower of cookies for the Wallpaper* November 2018 issue. Born and raised in the East Midlands, he studied photography in Cornwall and is based in London. We caught up with him to hear about his working practice.

Wallpaper*: Describe your style of work and process.
Andy Price: My work is mostly about trying to have fun with everyday objects and through this process, which could be a success or a failure, I hopefully find an interesting visual outcome. Can I balance this on top of that? What does this look like glued to that? The jumbling up of highbrow and lowbrow objects creates a final image which captures these constructed contradictions. It's about being open and going with the flow, allowing the magic in, the happy accident.

W*: Who or what made you want to be a photographer?
AP: There wasn't a definitive light bulb moment of wanting to be a photographer. What attracted me to it originally, and still today, is how immediate it is and its potential to be used as a document/or record of a situation.

Martin Parr, Stephen Shore and Paul Graham were all big influences when I first started taking pictures. That sort of new colour documentary work, but I was too shy to photograph people. So what really kicked things off was seeing the project Evidence by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel.

Now I’m more influenced by how pound shops arrange displays, people taking photos of items they’re listing on eBay. Those types of images which are intended to have a practical use. This is what that looks like. Looking at the language of advertising/commercial images and applying them to other situations, and seeing what errors happen in the translation.

W*: What’s on your radar at the moment?
AP: Khan’s Bargain on Rye Lane in Peckham will always be on a source of inspiration for me. The new building of the South London Gallery, which recently opened in what was previously the old fire station building. I also just finished reading Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working Class by Nathan Connolly, which was great.

See more from the Wallpaper* November 2018 issue

Andy Price Photography — *Solar Model*, 2018.

Wang & Söderström ARR. 01 V.02, — *Wang & Söderström ARR. 01 V.02*, 2018.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit Andy Price’s website

Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.

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