//16 Situations in vitrine at Land Marks. Photo: Jasper Weinstein Sheffield//

I’m pretty late with this but there are still three or so weeks to go, so, if you have the opportunity, I recommend a visit to Hauser + Wirth Somerset, home until June 21 of the contemplative and poised exhibition Land Marks: Structures For A Poetic Universe.

Curated by historians Nicholas Olsberg and Markus Lähteenmäki, Land Marks presents 100 architectural studies and works constituting an investigation into the boundaries between sculpture and architecture and landscapes and cities.

The spell-binding space at Durslade Farm outside the village of Bruton provides the perfect setting; I am thrilled that the curators included Derek Boshier’s quizzical 1971 work 16 Situations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 16 Situations, Building Design, Durslade Farm, Guy Brett, Hauser + Wirth Somerset, Jasper Weinstein Sheffield, Land Marks: Structures For A Poetic Universe, Markus Lähteenmäki, Niall Hobhouse, Nicholas Olsberg, Richard Hollis, Thames & Hudson, Whitechapel Art

McLaren opened up the frontiers between artistic and wider cultural attitudes by taking fashion and music out of their respective contexts and translating them into new formats that captured the wider popular zeitgeist. A closer look at his seemingly disarticulated, exuberant and streetwise oeuvre shows it to be consistent and, in its own way, profound.

David Thorp

On Wednesday (June 3) I’m introducing a screening of Malcolm McLaren’s Paris: Capital Of The XXIst Century at The Performance Studio in Peckham, south London.

This is a the first-ever opportunity in this country to see the final work, which McLaren completed a matter of weeks before his death in April 2010. A working version was shown here just once, at Newcastle’s Baltic in November 2009.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alexander Trocchi, Asger Jorn, Baudelaire, David Thorp, Guy Debord, John Hansard Gallery, King Mob, Paris Capital of the XXIst Century, Situationist International, The Performance Studio, Tracey Emin

//Malcolm McLaren and Andrea Linz with a Hambleton Shadow Man in the West Village, NYC, April 1983. © Bob Gruen/www.bobgruen.com. Please contact Bob Gruen’s studio to purchase a print or license this photo. Email: websitemail01@aol.com Phone: + 212-691-0391//

//Witches Shadow Man skirt, 1983. Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne Westwood and Richard Hambleton. This image (c) www.paulgormanis.com//

An under-acknowledged art world connection forged by Malcolm McLaren during his fashion design partnership with Vivienne Westwood was to the godfather of street art, conceptual artist Richard Hambleton.

During his forays in New York in the early 80s, McLaren was struck by Hambleton’s eerie representations of The Shadow Man figure; there was one on a wall in Bethune Street in the West Village, near the studio of McLaren’s photographer friend and ally Bob Gruen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Andrea Linz, Bob Gruen, Hank O'Neal, Keith Haring, Nick Egan, Richard Hambleton, Vivienne Westwood, Witches

//Astral Weeks – Van Morrison, Peter Wilkins, 2015//

//Hammersmith Apollo, Peter Wilkins, 2015//

In the 21st century, when digital downloads displaced compact discs as the format of consumer choice, music went naked into the world, unadorned by design or packaging. Yet this in turn gave rise to vigorous rear-guard action in the growing appreciation of what was fast disappearing. As if from the dead, vinyl made a comeback and the fan in Wilkins places him in a key position to cogitate this phenomenon.
From my text for the Lost In Music catalogue

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Astral Weeks, Brixton Academy, David Bowie, Doctors Of Madness, Ian Brown, Low, Matt Johnson, Peter Wilkins, Richard Strange, Screamadelicam Primal Scream, Stone Roses, The The, Van Morrison

//Jah Wobble as a female newsreader in the promo for Merry Go Round//

Love the clip from Jah Wobble for his cracking new song Merry Go Round.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 30hertz, Cherry Red, Jah Wobble, Redux, Ronnie Anger, William Blake

//Spread from AJ featuring images of Mr Freedom + Paradise Garage. Photo: Caz Facey//

It’s been a busy and satisfying week, rounded off by publication today in the Architects Journal of an essay of mine on the cultural significance of 430 King’s Road.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Apartamento, Architects Journal, Architectural Association, Ben Kelly, DIY Cultures, Don't Take These Drawings Seriously, Gene Krell, Glasgow School Of Art, Jim Walrod, Katy West, Memphis, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Omar Sosa Bartolome, Rory Olcayto

//From Radical People, Vol 1, No 2//

Great to see heroine Caroline Coon among the subjects/contributors to the second issue of Radical People, Reba Maybury’s celebration of quinquagenarian-plus non-conformists.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Anna Braun, Barbra Streisand, Caroline Coon, Humboldt University, Muzeum Sztuki, Otis Redding, Pauline Boty, Radical People, Reba Maybury

//Lynam – just about visible on the right – talks through the extraordinary sleeve design and packaging for Armed Forces, the 1979 album by Elvis Costello & The Attractions//

A film of last month’s celebration of design hero Barney Bubbles by American graphic designer Ian Lynam is now available to view online.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Armed Forces, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Hawkwind, Ian Lynam, Let It Rock, Nick Lowe, The AC/DC Desk, Vermont College Of Fine Arts

//The wacky picture is a photo-booth shot of Bubbles on the Stiff Records’ summer day-out in 1977. Courtesy Caramel Crunch//

Photographer Nick Knight has posted a fond tribute to Barney Bubbles.

//Back and front cover, C’Est C Bon, Carlene Carter, F-Beat/Epic, 1983//

Among the contributions Knight made to designs by the late graphics maestro was one of Bubbles’ last, for Carlene Carter’s 1983 LP C’est C Bon.

Tags: C'est C Bon, Carlene Carter, Epic Records, F-Beat Records, Nick Knight

//Clockwise from top left: Poster for album launch party at Hamburg club Golem in March; A-side label; postcard; album cover//

One of the most joyous releases of the year so far is the compilation Early Pakistani Dance Music from Germany’s Ovular. I found out about it via Instagram friend and DJ Martin “Soul Stew” Geise.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Florian Pittner, M. Ashraf, Martin GIese, Ovular