Anthony Gayton was born in Devon, England in 1968. He studied photography at Farnham (WSCAD) and Harrow (University of Westminster). In 1993 he moved to Vienna, Austria, where he became assistant, then studio manager, to acclaimed Austrian photographer Andreas H. Bitesnich. They worked together until 2019.
From the 1980s until 2012 Gayton also worked on various personal photographic projects, always shooting on film and often manipulating the images in the darkroom and/or Photoshop. Some of the earliest productions were ‘homage’ fashion shoots, inspired by various sources such as Willhelm von Gloedon, Jean Genet, 1950s US Beefcake, Caravaggio, and vintage snapshots. These stories formed the basis of the book Sinners & Saints, published in 2005 by te Neues.
From 2006, with the backing of MiTO Gallery in Barcelona, Gayton began creating more original and ambitious projects, incorporating storytelling and poetry into his work. Much of this work has been exhibited internationally and reproduced in various books and magazines, but the three volumes entitled TOUCH ME remain unpublished.
Anthony Gayton retired as photographer in 2012. His archive is held in Vienna at QWIEN.
EXHIBITIONS
As well as exhibiting in many international group, and smaller solo, shows, Anthony Gayton had three major solo exhibitions at MiTO Gallery in Barcelona.
2006 THE ANGELUS and other stories
2007-8 THE FALL
2009-10 BEHOLD THE MAN
“Gayton quite deliberately presents not only iconographic characters from the history of art and mythology, but plays with the form of appearance of photography itself. Irony and a love of detail add to the appeal of these images. Furthermore an increased interest in the fantastic and narrative is evident. For Gayton, photography offers the opportunity to dream the dream of eternal youth, beauty and desire.” Peter Weiermair
“A master in the mise-en-scène manipulation, he accomplishes any aesthetic, typological or stylistic results he wishes..” Natasha Christia
“Gayton’s…work is interesting from a number of different points of view. It is an example of the way in which photography is now challenging, and even regularly surpassing, more traditional media as a vehicle for serious moral and psychological messages.” Edward Lucie-Smith
