These are the trestles stacked up in Les Subsistances gallery in Chaumont, France, awaiting delivery of the exhibits for my show Barney Bubbles: The Past, The Present & The Possible, which is part of the group show White Noise: Quand le graphisme fait du bruit opening on May 26.

The exhibits arrive in France today, so the install  is underway.

White Noise, co-curated by Sophie Demay and Etienne Hervy, coincides with Chaumont’s 23rd International Poster & Graphic Design Festival.

Read more about it here.

Tags: Chaumont, Etienne Hervy, Les Subsistances, Sophie Demay, White Noise

Ten tunes chosen by me have been added to Rose Blake’s website studiomusic.

My choice was added yesterday with Harry Hill’s.
Harry plumps for some Kelis, a bit of Glasvegas and a helping of Tony Christie, while my list includes Hawkwind, The Heptones and Kilburn & The High Roads.

Click here to hear our choices and those of many other fab contributors.

Tags: Harry Hill, John Cale, Kilburn & The High Roads, Rose Blake, studiomusic, The Heptones

//According to artist Kevin Whitney, the "strange boy in drag" was the German fashion model Jurgen (surname not known).//

A couple of months back I wrote about a photo-session conducted at David Hockney’s Notting Hill house* in May 1974 by photographer Willie Christie.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Antony Price, Celia Birtwell, Frances Lynn, Jonathan Meades, Jurgen, Kevin Whitney, Marianne Faithfull, Michael Roberts, Ossie Clark, Pierre Laroche, Thems, Willie Christie

//Detail, Noise, Belinda Syme, 2012.//

I’m very much looking forward to artist Belinda Syme’s show of recent work, which opens at west London landmark The Tabernacle later this month.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Australia, Belinda Syme, Notting Hill, Tabernacle

//Sketches for Lodger gatefold cover, 1979.//

//Front, Clash 2nd Songbook, Music Sales Ltd, 1978. 12" x 9", 60pp (inc covers).//

Artist Derek Boshier’s practice is marked by his engagement with contemporary culture; this has been a consistent aspect of his work since the earliest days of the British Pop movement.

When popular music has invigorated the wider world, Boshier has been present, incorporating Buddy Holly into his painting I Wonder What My Heroes Think Of The Space Race? in Ken Russell’s defining 1962 Monitor piece Pop Goes The Easel, and providing one of the most vivid visual documents of the punk and post-punk era, Clash 2nd Songbook.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arts Council, Bill Haley, Brian Duffy, Caroline Coon, Central St Martin's, David Bowie, Derek Boshier, Hayward Gallery, Ian Dury, Joe Strummer, Let's Dance, Lives, Lodger, Mick Haggerty, Monitor, Pallant House, Pop Goes The Easel, Pretty Things, Serious Moonlight, Texas, The Clash

Ever one to blur the boundaries, Bishi Bhattacharya’s new song Albion Voice simultaneously embraces Jubilee year multicultural Britain and the time-honoured English folk tradition just as Matthew Hardem’s video captures this national treasure’s ability to shift between performance art and music performance.

It’s fab – visit Bishi’s site here.

And read about the day  I met her with one of Barney Bubbles’ collaborators here.

Tags: Albion Voice, Bishi, Matthew Hardem

Above is Diane Solway’s feature on Tommy Roberts in the current issue of W Magazine.

Read the text of the W article and view some of the images online here.

MR FREEDOM – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero is published in June; order your copy of the book here.

Tags: Diane Solway, May 2012, W magazine

//Left: Living Legend: Modern English by Diane Solway, W magazine, May 2012. Right screen-grab of spread from Husk, Spring/Summer 2012.//

My new book MR FREEDOM – Tommy Roberts: British Design Genius is featured in the new editions of US fashion monthly W magazine and European quarterly Husk.

With a foreword by Paul Smith and contributions from the designers who created the work sold in Roberts’ shops as well as friends, family and design authorities, MR FREEDOM is published in June by Adelita and distributed in the US by DAP.

More on the W magazine feature here; Husk stockists here.

Tags: Adelita, DAP, Diane Solway, Husk, May 2012, Paul Smith, W magazine

Peter Golding has very kindly supplied this shot of the facade of his glam Chelsea shop Ace, which ran for a decade from 1975 (for the first couple of years from 185 King’s Road) as a “purveyor of funky elegance” to well-heeled celebrities and pop and rock stars.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ace, Andrew Logan, L'Uomo Vogue, Peter Golding, South Molton Street

The Scottish Sunday Herald’s Teddy Jamieson has sent me this piece about the late graphic artist David Band, who is probably best known for his work for such 80s groups as Spandau Ballet and Altered Images but established a strong reputation in Australia before succumbing to cancer at the age of 51 last year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Altered Images, David Band, Spandau Ballet, Sunday Herald, Teddy Jamieson