The quality of a good portrait photographer can be recognized by the fact that they don't think in hierarchies when selecting and presenting their subjects. In the portraits that rock star Bryan Adams has been creating of both famous and unknown people for a quarter-century, no hierarchy can be detected.
On the second floor of the Göttingen Art House, whose fall exhibition titled "#Shotbyadams" is dedicated to the photographic work of the Canadian artist, hangs a 2002 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. There she sits, simply smiling, next to a row of rubber boots – the emblematic accessory of the British landed gentry. The Queen has rarely been shown in a less stately manner. Nevertheless, or perhaps precisely because of this, her likeness from this image made it onto a Canadian postage stamp.
The portrait of the monarch radiates no more dignity or significance than the images of war-wounded British soldiers that Adams photographed between 2008 and 2013 for his book "Wounded," which he most recently displayed in June at the German Reichstag on the occasion of Germany's first Veterans Day. The same applies to the homeless people Adams photographed in 2019 for the London street magazine The Big Issue and united in the series "Homeless." Adams' camera encounters all these people with the same curiosity and intensity.
Mistrust is warranted when an artist who is world-famous in one field believes this makes them equally interesting in other art forms. But Bryan Adams, similar to Dennis Hopper, possesses genuine dual talent. He had already been photographing for years on tour with a Rolleiflex camera when he got the opportunity – and here his rock star status likely didn't hurt in making connections – to observe in the studio of American fashion photographer Herb Ritts.
Adams initially published self-portraits for his own album covers but soon began receiving commissions for magazines and fashion shoots. A big name opens doors, but the fact that Adams could probably now live solely from his photography is due to their undeniable quality and distinctive style. He has designed Rammstein covers and convinced Amy Winehouse to let herself be photographed in an Armani dress that she initially found terrible but afterward loved so much that she took it home with her.
Often it seems as if Bryan Adams has seized the favor of the moment. After postponing a William Kentridge exhibition originally planned for this summer to 2026, "#Shotbyadams" is the programming highlight of the Art House in this difficult year. Last November, it slipped into insolvency without much warning. Only thanks to volunteer commitment from employees and a transitional program curated by publisher Gerhard Steidl and Johannes-Peter Herberhold, director of the Göttingen Literature Autumn, could operations continue. The insolvency phase ends at the beginning of next month, when new managing director Holger Fricke takes over and new sponsors are to be recruited.
Meanwhile, for the first time, the work of a single artist is being shown on all floors. Adams has long worked with Steidl as publisher for his photo books, which proves to be fortunate for the Art House. The prints come from the printing house right next door and are, in the style of the house, mounted unframed directly on the walls or, in the case of the "Wounded" series, hang like flags from the ceiling.
Explanations are kept to a minimum, and the mixture of glamour and a clear view of the consequences of war and poverty in Western society largely speaks for itself. A bit of friendly disrespect toward celebrities like Ben Kingsley, who appears here like a Beckett clown, and great respect for subjects like Jane Burns, who lost an arm and leg in a motorcycle accident and lived on the street for two years – both are typical of Adams' work.
With many of the portrait subjects, one notices they were open to more unconventional forms from the start. This doesn't surprise with Iggy Pop, who poses shirtless as usual, but the flexibility that trained dancer Mads Mikkelsen displays is somewhat more surprising. In other cases, it seems Adams seized the moment when the PR minders now omnipresent at such shoots weren't looking, as in his portrait of model Caroline Vreeland with cooling silicone patches on her face.
Sometimes the models don't even know who is photographing them. During a session with musician Moby, he said after half an hour: "You don't just have the same name as Bryan Adams, you look exactly like him too!" This speaks very well for the photographer – the star behind the camera never pushes himself between the portrait subjects and the viewer.
"#Shotbyadams" runs at the Göttingen Art House until February 8, 2026.
