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Exhibition · With Terry O’Neill · 2019

Hollywood Reloaded

Terry O’Neill’s legendary portraits, fired upon and reborn: a meeting of on-screen glamour and real-world violence.

Annabel’s and HOFA Gallery, Mayfair, London · from 30 September 2019

Brigitte Bardot, The Legend of Frenchie King, triptych, 2019

In 2019 Bran joined forces with photographer Terry O’Neill to reimagine some of the most famous portraits of Hollywood’s golden age.

Each chosen image showed a star with a gun. Working with HOFA and Iconic Images, Bran fired into the photographs using the same type of weapon depicted in each one, then embellished the bullet holes with butterflies.

Glamour and consequence

The sitters included Michael Caine in Get Carter, Brigitte Bardot, Roger Moore as James Bond, Raquel Welch, Jane Seymour and Frank Sinatra. The finished works turned the screen’s glamorous image of firearms back towards the damage they cause, asking how casually guns are celebrated in popular culture.

Michael Caine, Get Carter, 2019Roger Moore, 007, 2019
“What Bran has done with my photographs is astounding.”
— Terry O’Neill CBE

Terry O’Neill’s last exhibition

Hollywood Reloaded launched at Annabel’s in Mayfair on 30 September 2019 and ran at HOFA Gallery until 14 October. Terry O’Neill died that November, and HOFA extended the show in honour of the photographer. It was the final exhibition of his lifetime.

Previous: One Small Step, 2019 →Next: The Art to Disarm, 2021 →

The works

Raquel Welch, 2019
Jane Seymour, 2019
Frank Sinatra, 2019
Terry O’Neill

In the press

British GQ · 6 October 2019Terry O’Neill and Bran Symondson interviewThe two artists talk about the new exhibition and their collaboration.Read the interview →Creative Boom · 2 October 2019Hollywood Re-Loaded examines gun violenceOn the intergenerational collaboration and the process behind the works.Read the article →Arts & Collections: O’Neill and Symondson collaborate on Hollywood Re-LoadedArts & Collections · 2019O’Neill and Symondson collaborate on Hollywood Re-LoadedAnnounces the collaboration and the launch at Annabel’s.Read the article →Luxury London · 26 September 2019Your guide to Frieze Week 2019Includes Hollywood Reloaded among the week’s highlights.Read the guide →LUXUO · 2019Commentary on guns: Hollywood Re-loadedFurther coverage of the collaboration and its message.Read the article →ArtRabbit · 2019Hollywood Re-loaded at HOFA GalleryExhibition listing with the original dates.View the listing →HOFA Gallery press release · 2019Exhibition extended in honour of Terry O’NeillGallery announcement of the extension after O’Neill’s death.Read the release →
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Hollywood Reloaded · Annabel’s and HOFA Gallery, London · 2019