//The first vitrine contains original copies of Blast 2 (1915), Crash! 1 (1997) and gal-dem 2 (2017). Photo: @hellenelleliang//

//Enjoying browsing the magazines on the PRINT! newsstand. Photo: @jasonthien//

//Contributor Alpa Depani talking about her zine Romp with members of the New Architecture Writers group. Photo: @paul_g0rm4n//

PRINT! Tearing It Up, the exhibition about the resurgence and history of independent progressive British magazines, has entered its final week at central London’s Somerset House.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alpa Depani, Black Dwarf, Black Echoes, Blitz, Claire Catterall, Crash!, Cyclops, Freakbeat, Gal-dem, i-D, Iain R. Webb, John May, Liv Siddall, Oz, P.i.X, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Rough Trade, Sandie Shaw, Somerset House, Terry Jones, THIIIRD, Trench

//Outtakes of the eight women featured in London Belles, published in the December 7 1973 issue of West One magazine. Photography © John Bishop. No reproduction without permission//

Although high fashion may be a thing of the past, what has replaced it is individuality and freedom to express. Women like these now make up their own minds about what they are and what they wear. Perhaps the rest of us should get the message and start being living fashion.
West One, December 7, 1973

I’m really honoured that veteran fashion photographer John Bishop has granted me this exclusive to show previously unpublished outtakes from the landmark London Belles feature he shot for the 1970s British magazine West One.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AS Neill, Jane Merer, Janet Street-Porter, John Bishop, Jose Fonseca, Launita, Louise Doktor, Models 1, Pru Walters, Shelley Martin, Summerhill, Suzi Quatro, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, Vivienne Westwood, West One

British law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which supports the exhibitions at Somerset House’s Terrace Rooms, has produced a short film about PRINT! Tearing It Up, the show which I have organised at the gallery with SH senior curator Claire Catterall.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Anarchy In The UK, Charles Russell Speechlys, Claire Catterall, Mushpit, Peace News, Somerset House, Suzanne Marriott, Viz

//The PRINT! Mind Map currently in the Terrace Rooms of Somerset House. Photo: Doug Peters/PA Wire//

//First rough draft, February 2018//

One of the most popular elements of PRINT! Tearing It Up – the celebration of independent magazines currently at Somerset House – is the giant mind map of British publishing which occupies an entire wall in the Terrace Rooms gallery.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Architectural Review, BLast, British Journal Of Photography, Claire Catterall, Doug Peters, Omni Colour, Rhys Atkinson, Scott King, Somerset House, The Spectator

Here’s a clip of me being interviewed about PRINT! Tearing It Up, which is free to visitors to Somerset House in central London until August 22:

Tags: Deluxe, Fuck Brexit, Mushpit, Private Eye, Somerset House

//Relation of Aesthetic Choice to Life Activity (Function) of the Subject, Billy Apple, 1961-2. From Tate Britain//

I’m indebted to Tate Liverpool curator Darren Pih for the connection between a photograph which appeared in ARK 33 – the edition of the Royal College Of Art magazine which was the subject of my last post – and a contemporaneous work by the artist Billy Apple.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Andrew Wilson, ARK 33, Barrie Bates, Billy Apple, Darren Pih, David Hockney, Keith Branscombe, Lady Clairol Instant Crème Whip, Royal College Of Art, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool

//Wild youth: Scenes of abandon from Twist Drunk/Drunk Twist in Ark 33. Photos: Keith Branscombe//

//Cover, Ark 33, Autumn 1962. Photography: Keith Branscombe//

The publication of issue 33 of the Royal College of Art’s magazine ARK in the autumn of 1962 hit the moment in terms of the turbo-charging of contemporary youth culture.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ARK, Bill James, Brian Haynes, David Clarke, Derek Boshier, Don McCullin, Dougie Millings, Eric Mottram, Geof Reeve, John Stephen, Keith Branscombe, Marc Bolan, Mark Boxer, Mark Feld, Pauline Boty, Peter Blake, Royal College Of Art, Shashi Rawal, the Beatles, Town

Two short films representing the voices of independence in the Somerset House show PRINT! Tearing Up are available online and for visitors to the exhibition.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alpa Depani, Eleanor Scott, Eye, John L. Walters, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Spare Rib, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

As well as the Newsstand (see last post), PRINT! Tearing It Up features three listening booths where visitors to the exhibition can hear podcasts featuring some of the greats of British independent magazine publishing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alpa Depani, Elisabeth Krohn, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Sabat, Suspira, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

//Visitors to the show browse Newsstand magazines this week. Photo: Somerset House Trust//

//The kiosk on which our Newsstand is based was built for the news vendor at Sloane Square station 30-odd years ago//

Traditional newsstands figure among my favourite examples of London street vernacular architecture (if indeed they qualify as architecture – I’m no expert).
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Arts, Anthony Gordon, Claire Catterall, Eoin Donnelly, Kathryn Flett, Lindsay Baker, Nick Logan, Scott King, Somerset House, Somerset House Trust