Unseen Guy Bourdin

The private view of the Guy Bourdin exhibition at the Wapping Project last week was definitely not your regular, run-of-the-mill art opening. Instead of Asahi beer in a bin and the usual crowd of art students and hangers on, we had champagne cocktails and Bryan Ferry. The venue itself is breathtaking. It’s a renovated power station and the dark, cavernous interior was lit by hundreds of candles for the night. There is also the cutest little bookshop in a greenhouse outside on the grass. The rather excellent soundtrack was provided by Misty Rabbit and Jerry Bouthier and the fashion crowd actually danced, rather than just standing around, looking flawless.

I had always found Bourdin's work a little too disturbing and twisted for my taste but I was completely floored by this show - the photographs glowed in the haunting darkness and the compelling images offer the viewer a glimpse into a private world, inviting them to complete the narrative. The centrepiece of the exhibition is Bourdin's Surrealist-inspired image of a silhouette with a heavily made-up eye looking through a peephole. Until 4 July at the Wapping Project.