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Sins of the flesh: Why Jonathan Yeo stopped doing 'boring' society portraiture

Extracts from :The Independent -Sunday, 1 June 2008

"It is an insane place to have a studio," admits Yeo, looking out over a tree-lined avenue of prime real estate. The house is owned by Yeo's friend, Carphone Warehouse big cheese David Ross, and Yeo originally took on the studio for six months; he's been here for five years. He points out art dealer Ivor Braka's building next door, which "has a vast showroom. I see his rich collectors trouping through and try to entice them up to see me; Ivor pops round if he knows Dennis [Hopper] is here.
" As often happens over a course of sittings with his subjects, Yeo has developed a friendship with the American actor. "The connection you make is incredible – in what other context do you get to shoot the breeze with someone for up to 20 hours? You lavish attention on each other and make such an effort that you are pretty likely to become friends."

If that's the case, Yeo's "friends" include Tony Blair, David Cameron (ongoing), Andrew Lloyd Webber, Grayson Perry, Rupert Murdoch, Richard Attenborough, Prince Philip and various Russian oligarchs (he charges up to £75,000 a portrait).

Yeo has been accused of flattery, but he says he only flatters those he doesn't like. "I find if you make them a year or two younger, they don't see you've portrayed them as cantankerous or over-bearing." Over time, he hopes, the intentions of a portrait will become clear.

Perhaps it is this sense of mischief that has prompted Yeo to head off in a new, risqué direction. His forthcoming show, Blue Period, comprises a series of pornographic collages, concentrating on nudes in pre-Raphaelite poses, with just two portraits, of George W Bush and Hugh Hefner ("the only portraits I've done where the subject didn't sit for me. I'm using their iconography rather than their presence," he says). He is working on a collage of Paris Hilton but it won't be ready so he'll show it in New York in September. "I have met her but I don't know what she'd think of this or even if she'd get it."

The idea for the collages occurred to Yeo following the cancellation of a commission by the White House to paint George W Bush – he had just won his second term as US president in 2004. Piqued, Yeo made the portrait anyway, but in the form of a collage using pages torn from pornographic magazines.

The Bush collage has proved extremely popular. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France has acquired a print, as has Yeo's friend Jamie Theakston, whose Polish builder took umbrage. "I love working for you but I hate that picture," he told the broadcaster, who assumed he was shocked by the sexual act depicted in the president's ear. "Bush is a disgusting man!" said the builder, so Theakston suggested he look closer: he was delighted and asked where he could buy a print for himself.
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FOXNEWS ,..................................September 26, 2008

Jonathan Yeo's portrait of Hilton was bought by artist Damien Hirst ahead of Thursday's show opening, said Lazarides Gallery spokeswoman Elizabeth Barrett, who said she didn't know the sale price. Barrett said posters of the Hilton portrait, titled "Paris, 2008," will be sold for $20 each at the gallery.

She said Yeo was offering Hilton proceeds from the sale of the posters as a "lighthearted" gesture because the hotel heiress has said she didn't receive any money from the notorious 2004 sex video ...."

Yeo has painted portraits of Tony Blair, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rupert Murdoch and Prince Philip.