London born Yeo, the son of a former Conservative minister, was never formally trained at art school, instead he taught himself how to paint in his early 20's while recovering from lymphatic cancer, carving out a career in the nineties painting pop stars, politicians, actors, royalty and Russian mafia. In 2007, Yeo's work took a new direction when the White House reneged on a commission for him to paint a portrait of President George W. Bush. He went ahead with the picture anyway, creating a collaged likeness out of hardcore pornographic magazines (including a sexual act reportedly illegal in the state of Texas). The image was unveiled at Lazarides London in August 2007 and immediately became notorious around the world. Yeo sees his collages as a wry comment on the gradual pornogaphisation of advertising and the mass media. He says the portraits are playful references to the warped attitudes toward sex and morality, while the nudes emphasise the dramatically contrasting portrayals of the female body. We, on the other hand, suspect he just likes looking at porn. The National Portrait Gallery describes Yeo's work as a combination of “photographic realism and a painterly touch”, the late, great Dennis Hopper describes it as “timeless and exquisite”, and the US Republican party calls it “extremely distasteful.”
