Jonathan Glynn-Smith

        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Born into an artistic family, Jonathan Glynn-Smith grew up steeped in the visual arts, and from a young age, photography proved the most evident path for him to express his fascination with movement, colour, nature and people.

In Wild Thing (2019), Glynn-Smith drew inspiration from the atmosphere of Chelsea in the sixties, bustling with new fashion ideas but also with a new freedom in the expression of art and self.  In this collection of photographic portraits, Glynn-Smith incorporates animals from around the world, shot with models dressed in fashion emulating the sixties style synonymous with Chelsea's King's Road. The animal models used, including a lion, panther, kangaroo, bull, flamingo, wolves and a zebra, represent a nod to Christian the lion, a local celebrity in Chelsea at the time. Christian, born in 1969, was purchased from Harrods by a couple living on the King's Road. Christian became a well-known resident of the road before he was successfully reintroduced into the wild in Kora National Park in Kenya in 1971. All the human models in this photographic series are dressed in a fashion mirroring the aesthetic of the 1960s, with Glynn-Smith drawing particular inspiration from the creative designs of Mary Quant. 

Glynn-Smith was keen to preserve the integrity of the rapport between model and animal by shooting both subjects together, so that the moment caught in the lens would be absolutely real.  In doing so, he captured the essence of what both separates and binds the animal world to the human.  The essence of a true collaboration. In each picture, the sophistication of make-up, textures and the timelessness of the wardrobe while radically opposed to the wild simplicity of the animals, still perfectly emphasise the symbiosis between both subjects.  Beyond the glamour of a beautiful fashion shoot, these photos, like so much of his work, give food for thought and play with boundaries : a girl playfully perches on one leg to mirror a flamingo, a Barbarella-like woman walks two wolves...

Uninhibited, but with a unique clarity of vision, Glynn-Smith brings a wealth of personal experience and reference to his pictures. "My lens is a two-way tool – the superficial image on one side and my own instinctive need for authenticity on the other."

Jonathan Glynn-Smith was born in 1965 and is based in London. His photography has spearheaded advertising campaigns, books, and exhibitions for some of the world’s leading blue chip clients. His evocative and timeless images have inspired magazine editors, luxury brands and his viewers for over two decades.