How much Noel Gallagher is too much Noel Gallagher? In the wake of the Oasis reunion announcement, it’s a looming cannonball of a question and one we’re all going to (re)learn the answer to. For those with wobbly memories (or indeed those who were not yet adequately sentient in the mid-1990s), there’s a way to expedite the process: head on down to “Legends,” an exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery, when it opens at the end of this month.
Gallagher is seemingly the poster boy for this show of more than 100 black and white photographs taken by Zoë Law, the British photographer best-known for her monochromatic portraits. Gallagher’s half-shadowed face is slapped across the promotional materials. It’s one with bold dimples, a wisp of stubble, and a street-smart expression that seems to say: “I know something you don’t.”
But what exactly? Perhaps it’s the fact that he is more legendary than the surrounding figures from the worlds of art, fashion, business, entertainment, or sport. Though Sienna Miller, Orlando Bloom, or Bobby Charlton, England’s World Cup winner, offer rivals. Or maybe it’s the knowledge that visitors are about to be submerged in a drawn out, six-hour version of “Champagne Supernova,” the ride-off-into-the-sunset anthem from Oasis’ seminal (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995). Spare a thought for the docents buried beneath an Oasis landslide.
Gallagher once described “Champagne Supernova” as “probably as psychedelic as I’ll ever get” and so the natural development nearly 30 years on has been to turn it into an ambient remix. Imagine the sounds of bubbling springs and softly stroked acoustic guitar. It means that no matter which of Law’s subjects visitors are looking at, they will be listening to the work of Gallagher. To quote a refrain from “Champagne Supernova” itself, “we don’t know why. Why? Why? Why?”
“Legends” is made up of people who have influenced Law’s life and career, people who embody “passion, dedication, and resilience,” as the National Portrait Gallery’s press materials puts it. It’s unclear exactly how Gallagher has impacted Law, but there he is looking back at visitors. The Trafalgar Square institution has acquired the portrait for its permanent collection, which Law has called the greatest honor, one that “all portrait artists dream of.” To be fair, Gallagher seems slightly confused by the news.
“I am thrilled and honored to have my portrait added to the National Portrait Gallery,” Gallagher said in a statement. “The thought of the portrait of a grumpy middle-aged man who frankly hates having his picture taken being permanently displayed for future generations to marvel at is very special.”