Weber puts fantasies on display

Fifty-one fantasies of adolescence inspire the American photographer Bruce Weber's alternative exhibition at the Zelda Cheatle Gallery in London.

The photographs of a modern Adonis concentrate sensually on a young man's physique, and runs concurrently with an exhibition of Weber's more conventional work at the National Portrait Gallery.

The collection of hand-tinted photographs, entitled "Chop Suey" and which opens tomorrow, traces the fantasies and possibilities of youth, through the image of a 16-year-old professional wrestler, called Peter Johnson.

Johnson is seen dressed in a variety of costumes and posed in different situations. He blends into each scene through what Weber calls his "chameleon quality". In some photographs he takes on the image of famous personalities, such as Neil Young and Serge Gainsbough, and in others he is dressed as a Louis XIV courtier, or is seen riding a camel or an elephant.

Weber (above) took two years to produce the 51 photographs, and his inspiration came after meeting Johnson at a wrestling camp in Iowa. Weber says that Johnson's father "sent me a letter saying how beautiful his son was. I wanted to make a record for his parents".

All the photographs in the exhibition - including Peter-Burma Dreaming (left) - are coloured to suite the mood. Each session was embarked upon with few pre-conceived notions, but as the possibilities developed Weber says "it was like wrapping up a gift for somebody's birthday, and hoping that they liked it".