The portraits of Dr Andy Gots MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) are intimate and deeply human. Completely unfiltered and unedited, his photographs radiate raw energy. Each has a striking sense of the photographer’s art mixed with the personality of the celebrity depicted. Yes, celebrities, because Andy Gots is one of the few photographers who specializes in famous faces instead of a specific area in the entertainment world.
He admits to a slight preference for working with actors because, as he says, “I think part of me wishes I was an actor.” He also suggests that the secret of his success is “eighty percent luck, ten percent alcohol, and ten percent crude jokes,” but dares to say that his “luck” doesn’t come by accident. Dr. Gots creates his “luck” through a unique combination of his artistic sensibility, naturally likable personality, and a preparation process that doesn’t exhaust his subjects with endless styling and makeup. His photo shoots are quick and short. Just a conversation between the photographer and the photographed. Lots of laughs and only a few “clicks” in between. As he says, “Fifty percent of the work is done by the other person. Half by me and half by them: we meet in the middle and create something.”
In this unique “twilight zone” of a medium, Gots’ works reveal celebrities in a familiar, almost intimate light. “That’s how my daughter sees me,” says Kate Moss, and it will only take one look to understand why. Because the sessions are so private, these otherwise public figures have the opportunity to be seen as they really are through the honest eye of the camera. In this age of retouching, where incongruity and signs of age are quickly covered up, these paintings – so strong and realistic – manage to capture the essence of these icons. At once a celebrity, a muse for the artist and a human being
It’s humbling to think how many stars past and present have been immortalized by Dr. Gotts’ camera. For example, his remarkable photograph of Tony Curtis.
This is the last professional portrait of the actor before he died in 2010. Gots has been trying to photograph Curtis for many years: when he finally contacts the actor and gets a meeting in Las Vegas for the next day, he is delighted… until late in the evening he receives an unexpected call from Curtis. The actor is still looking forward to the meeting, but has a very special request, “Can you help me look like an icon, just one more time?”
And that’s exactly what Gotts is doing. Painting an American flag on Curtis’s face and using a close-up in dim, almost mysterious light, he captures a portrait that is at once intimate and awe-inspiring. The gleam in Curtis’s eyes, fixed squarely on the observer, conveys all the dignity of the giants of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The soul of a Hollywood star is captured in a photo that doesn’t gloss over the reality that doesn’t hide the passing years. The day after the photo shoot, Tony Curtis’s wife, Jill Vandenberg Curtis, showed the photo to her husband, who had fainted that morning and was now hospitalized. He stares at the photo – intensely, silently, his eyes riveted on it for minutes – and says, “This is the best picture ever taken of me.” Tony Curtis, the Prince of America, died that day. Not only does Gots shoot him last and grant his wish, but he also takes his favorite photo right before the end.
Gots’s work becomes even more impactful when we remember that behind every photograph is an anecdote. Unique narratives hide behind a smile or a tear. It’s that inner attractiveness, that glow from within, the spontaneous laughter or timid smile that Andy Gots captures with his lens.
