Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones
Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones are a London-based photographic and filmmaking duo whose work spans fashion, film, art, scenography and music.
Lives and careers
Du Preez, a self-taught photographer originally from Johannesburg, arrived in London in 1989 and began shooting for magazines in 1992. Thornton Jones started his career as art director, they began collaborating in the late nineties and have worked together ever since.[1]
Fashion photography - magazines
Du Preez and Thornton Jones’ work has featured in many international fashion magazines including I-D; Visionaire; Big Magazine; Numero; V Magazine and The New York Times[1][2][3][4][4]
Advertising campaigns
Represented by Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) Films in London[4] and Talent and Partner in New York and Paris,[5] they have created TV commercials for beauty, fashion and automotive clients including Lancôme; BMW; Pepé Jeans; Schweppes and Perrier Jouët.[1][4] They have also photographed print campaigns for Issey Miyake; Boucheron; Cartier; Mercedes Benz; Absolut; Hermes; Thierry Mugler and Levi’s.[1][2][4]
Music
Over the last decade, the duo has worked extensively with Icelandic pop star Björk[4][6][7] and British DJ, producer and electronic recording artist, James Lavelle and his collective UNKLE[4][8][9] for whom they directed the music videos: Follow Me Down and The Runaway Film – both from the album Where Did the Night Fall.[10] They also created the album art for Where Did the Night Fall and its follow-up album Another Night Out. They have also collaborated with British trip-hop/electro group Massive Attack.[4]
Fashions shows and scenography
In October 2007 they devised the theatrical showpiece light installation for La Dame Bleue - the SS08 show from late British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen.[1][10]
Filmmaking - art projects
In 2013 Du Preez & Thornton Jones directed Erebus – a filmic response to British choreographer Russell Maliphant’s staging of The Rodin Project, created in tandem with Sadler’s Wells theatre, London.[11][12] Initially previewed at the British Film Institute (BFI), in collaboration with gallerist Siobhan Andrews of Daydreaming Projects,[13] the Erebus project was also exhibited as a film,[9] series of static artworks as well as an exterior installation during London’s Frieze Art Fair, 2013.[14]
Exhibitions
- 2013 – Erebus - London Newcastle Gallery, solo show, London
- 2012 – DAYDREAMING – THE HONG KONG EDITION group show, Artistree, Hong Kong
- 2011 – Vinyl Factory & Daydreaming WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS, solo show, London
- 2010 – Haunch of Venison & DAYDREAMING group show, London
- 2009 – Phillips de Pury - NOW group show, London
- 2009 – 20 Hoxton Square projects & Shelter group show, London
- 2008 – Lazarides Gallery - Unkle War Paint show with Robert Del Naja, London
- 2008 – Prêt a Porter - Solo Show, Paris
- 2007 – In the Making: Fashion & Advertising, National Portrait Gallery group show, London
- 2004 – solo shows at the Issey Miyake Ropongi store, Tokyo and Conduit Street, London.
- 2002 – Colette - 5th Birthday – solo exhibition, Paris
- 2001 – Visionaries Exquisite Corpse group exhibition, São Paulo, Brazil / Paul Kasmin Gallery
- 2001 – "A Decade ‘Dreaming in Print" - Visionaire magazine exhibition at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York
Installations
- 2009 – Lightform installation performance with Unkle music collective, De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex, UK 2009.
- 2007 – Bird of Light, Alexander McQueen S/S 2008 show collaboration (lightform installation).
- 2005 – Institute Contemporary Arts (ICA) – Mutation film installation / Fashioning the future, London
- 2004 – Fashion at Belsay, Zero G film installation in collaboration with Hamish Morrow, Northumberland, UK
- 2003 – TATE magazine art + fashion, feature x collaboration with Issey Miyake, London
Books
- 2005 – Fashioning the Future, published by Thames & Hudson
- 2003 – Gas Book 14, Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, published by Takeyuki Fuji
- 2002 – Book One, published by Studio/Colette.