Road to 2012: Aiming High, National Portrait Gallery - review

This is the third instalment of a mammoth commission for the National Portrait Gallery and BT — more than 100 portraits of the protagonists of London 2012, everyone from the elite athletes to the head of catering, from the artists at the heart of the London 2012 Festival to torchbearing members of the public.

It reflects the gargantuan tasks that the Games has brought onto the shoulders of its organisers and participants. But, as with the two previous editions, it also presents an opportunity to explore different modes of contemporary photography.

It is a tricky commission, because while Olympians and Paralympians inevitably bring action, the unsung heroes backstage, however worthy of attention, are often simply blokes in suits. It is a reality that even an accomplished photographer like Brian Griffin found difficult to escape in his images for an earlier exhibition in the series, some of which remain on view in a special display at the NPG.

In this new group of works, Jillian Edelstein copes particularly well with this conundrum, eschewing an overall conceptual style and varying her approach according to the subject. It’s particularly effective in an image of Peter Hendy and Graham Jones, senior figures at Transport for London, whom Edelstein captures in a car in the Blackwall Tunnel, a moody shot that immediately conjures a scene from a gangster film.

Edelstein’s portrait of artist Martin Creed, whose bell-ringing project opens the Games on July 27, is particularly winning. Creed is mustachioed, with curly locks emerging from underneath a bowler hat, looking as much ringmaster as artist.

Collaborative duo Anderson and Low’s stirring ensemble pieces emphasise the drama of the environment around their subjects. The Men’s Rowing Eight and their cox are captured on a graffitied riverside in Seville, their vast white oars chiming with a distant tower block.

There is a formal elegance, too, in the pair’s shot of gymnasts strapping their ankles and wrists in a changing room, their red leotards rhyming with the crimson floor and the pink and red colour accents in clothing hanging from hooks above them.

I was very moved by Nadav Kander’s lifesize cutouts of ordinary people who have often overcome adversity to do extraordinary things, prompting their nomination to be Olympic torchbearers. Kander’s cutouts float over the gallery floor, giving them an otherworldly air that suggests that, even before any medals have been won, London 2012 already has its heroes.

Aiming High runs from tomorrow until September 23 (020 7306 0055, npg.org.uk).

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