Seven works by Barney Bubbles feature in Making Music Modern: Design For The Eye & Ear at MoMA
//Left: Poster, 30 x 20″, one of a series of four, for Generation X residency at The Marque, Soho, London, September 1977. Right: Poster, 60 x 40″, one of a series of five for Stiff Records package tour of UK, October/November, 1977. Design (c) Barney Bubbles Estate//
//Installation view of Making Music Modern dominated by Bubbles’ Costello poster. Also note his Do It Yourself sleeve and Generation X poster. Photo: John Wronn//
New York’s Museum Of Modern Art is featuring seven works by the late graphics maestro Barney Bubbles in the current exhibition Making Music Modern: Design For The Eye & Ear.
//Another installation view of Making Music Modern; note Bubbles back cover for Dury’s LP New Boots & Panties!! in the display in the foreground. Photo: John Wronn//
//Front cover design for Dury’s 1979 LP Do It Yourself printed on wallpaper. Design (c) Barney Bubbles Estate//
These are drawn from the period when Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher 1942; died 1983) was producing designs for punk and new wave artists in the late 70s and early 80s and include posters for Elvis Costello, Generation X and Ian Dury & The Blockheads’ LP Do It Yourself, as well his enduring Blockhead logotype for Dury and his sleeve for Dury’s live debut New Boots & Panties!!.
//Left: Bubbles’ Blockhead logo as it first appeared on the label for Dury’s 1978 single What A Waste. Right: 12in sleeve with aperture for Costello’s 1980 single High Fidelity//
Bubbles’ record sleeves for the 12″in version of Costello & The Attraction’s single High Fidelity and album Almost Blue are also represented.
Making Music Modern is at the museum’s Philip Johnson Architecture & Design Galleries and runs until November 1, 2015. Details here.
View the catalogue of the exhibition contents here.