//The Overton Gang, 1966//
//Jesse Sublett with his book in the Townes Van Zandt foyer//
Over cocktails a couple of nights back at Austin’s Townes Van Zandt Hotel I was captivated by writer Jesse Sublett’s tales of the Texas capital’s not-so-distant criminal past.
This is an extract from an interview with the late Malcolm McLaren in October 1982, conducted just after he and design partner Vivienne Westwood had shown their fashion collection Punkature.
As the promulgator, initially through music and fashion and then into other forms from film and art to design and media, McLaren defined Punk as an anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate attitude imbued with a D-I-Y spirit which embraces chaos.
Next week witnesses the opening of a London exhibition of reworked images by music/street art photographer Janette Beckman.
This is the finalised cover of Punk London: In The City 1975-78, my map collaboration with Herb Lester Associates which will be published in a few weeks.
As a tribute to the late rock star, I have joined forces with map-makers Herb Lester to create an online guide to David Bowie’s London from his birth at 40 Stansfield Road in Brixton in 1947 through his solo art show in Mayfair in 1995 to the giant retrospective David Bowie Is exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington in 2013.
//Sketches for the Lodger sleeve, 1979//
I just had to write and tell you how much I love the book that has just been published. Your work really cascades over the decades and is utterly real and convincing.
Extract of email from David Bowie to Derek Boshier, November 2015
I guess it can be told now. David Bowie was at one stage going to contribute to Rethink/Re-entry, the monograph of the artist Derek Boshier, with whom the late rock star had worked in the late 70s and early 80s.
//Framed shred of Lucian Freud wallpaper designed by David Bowie for inclusion in the 1995 War Child fashion show Pagan Funwear//
It is of course very sad to note the death of David Bowie; 69 is too young, particularly for such an important figure in the pop cultural landscape with an evident abundance of creative contributions still to make to our lives.
//Front cover, Elemental, The Earth, Rare Vinyl, 2016. Design: Ian Harris//
Ian Harris is one of those London characters who turns up at various stages in the capital’s post-war pop culture narrative.
//One, Derek Boshier, 1967. Screenprint, 22.5 x 31″//
It’s always a delight to encounter fresh artworks by a favourite artist, and Derek Boshier’s print One from 1967 is no exception.
| Paul Gorman is a writer. This is his blog: art, books, conversation, cults, dancing, design, encounters, environments, events, film, galleries, groups, individuals, invitations, magazines, music, opinions, performance, photography, places, press, privacy, spaces, style, thoughts + views. |
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