COMING HOME: Chris Lowe

Grundy Art Gallery is pleased to be working with the National Portrait Gallery on COMING HOME – a major project which sees the National Portrait Gallery lend portraits of iconic individuals to places across the UK with which they are most closely associated.

#PortraitsComingHome

Whilst Grundy remains closed due to COVID-19, Eric Watson’s portrait of Chris Lowe is being loaned ‘virtually’, providing a focus for online exhibitions and projects.

 
Born in Blackpool in 1959, musician Chris Lowe is co-founder of the Pet Shop Boys, the most successful duo in British pop history.

Lowe attended Arnold School, displaying early musical talent on the piano, and playing the trombone in a local seven-piece band. In the mid-1970s, Lowe frequented Blackpool nightclubs such as Man Friday’s and the Dixieland Showbar, discovering disco, electro and house music. Lowe recalled, ‘Being in a musical environment with lots of people who were having fun to pop music… that made an impression.’

After studying architecture at Liverpool University, Lowe moved to London in 1981, where he met Neil Tennant. With Lowe on keyboards and Tennant on vocals, the Pet Shop Boys have released 65 singles and 14 studio albums, over a career spanning forty years. Their creative partnership also includes musicals, ballets, and an orchestral piece based on the life of Alan Turing.

Lowe and Tennant cultivated a distinctive public persona and collaborated on music videos, tour design and album covers with leading artists, architects, designers, and choreographers. This iconic portrait of Lowe, wearing a pair of Issey Miyake sunglasses, was used on the award-winning 12-inch sleeve of their 1986 single ‘Suburbia’.

The Pet Shop Boys have received numerous accolades, including a 2009 Brit Award for their contribution to British music. During the ceremony, Lowe remarked: ‘I’ve always thought that music is about making people happy and having a good time. I think that’s because I come from Blackpool.’

You can find more information about the National Portrait Gallery’s Coming Home here:
COMING HOME – National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk)

COMING HOME has been made possible by the National Portrait Gallery, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, generous contributions from The Thompson Family Charitable Trust and funds raised at the Gallery’s Portrait Gala in 2017.