//Back Cover, Jesus Of Cool, Nick Lowe, Radar Records, 1978. Photo: Bob Bromide. Design © Barney Bubbles Estate//

//Back cover, Darling Let’s Have Another Baby/Something Else/It Really Digs, Johnny Moped, Chiswick Records, 1978. Design © Barney Bubbles Estate//

//Clock, Stiff Records, 1978. Design © Barney Bubbles Estate//

//Front, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy, Billy Bragg, Utility, 1983. Design © Barney Bubbles Estate//

“In graphics, in the music business at least, Barney pioneered the use of everyday objects in his work. He could see the design and the beauty in the apparently banal”
Suzanne Spiro, artist

The Barney Bubbles exhibition Optics & Semantics at London gallery Rob Tufnell closes tomorrow evening; if you have a chance, do go along and enjoy the late graphic arts maestro’s unique celebrations of the mundane and workaday.

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Tags: (I Love The Sound Of) Breaking Glass, Billy Bragg, Brian Griffin, Charisma Records, Chiswick Records, Clarice Cliff, El Lissitzky, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, F-Beat Records, Get Happy!!, Is That Love, Jake Riviera, John Arlott Talks Cricket, Johnny Moped, Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy, Moholy-Nagy, Nick Lowe, Paul Carrack, Radar Records, Rob Tufnell, Squeeze, Stiff Records, Strongbow, Suburban Voodoo, Suzanne Spiro, Teenburger, Terence Conran, They Called It Rock, Utility

//Janette Beckman’s 1980 image of Jerry Dammers of The Specials is included with documentary and portrait photography by the likes of Jane Bown, Bill Brandt,  Ian Macdonald, Colin O’Brien, Martin Parr and Jo Spence//

Curated by Christopher Bailey, creative director of sponsoring fashion brand Burberry, with Lucy Kumara Moore of bookshop Claire de Rouen and fashion/documentary photographer Alasdair McLellan, the exhibition Here We Are considers Britishness at this crucial juncture in our economic, political and social history.

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Tags: Bill Brandt, Brian Griffin, Chris Steele-Perkins, Christopher Bailey, Claire de Rouen, Colin O'Brien, Copyright 1978, Daffyd Jones, Daniel Meadows, Danny Reed, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Homer Sykes, Ian MacDonald, Jane Bown, Janette Beckman, Jerry Dammers, Jo Spence, Lucy Kumara Moore, Mark Stewart, Martin Parr, Paint Your Windows White, Power, Roger Mayne, Tessa Traeger, The Old Session House, The Pop Group

//AC/DC Desk (with plug stool), Get Happy!! lightbulb poster, ‘Kill Time’ Stiff Records clock + Ian Dury Cocktail cabinet//

You wait years for a Barney Bubbles exhibition and then two come along in the space of a month.

On the heels of the mini-show of Barney Bubbles music designs at Fred Perry’s basement space in Covent Garden comes a different take on the work of the late graphics maestro.

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Tags: Billy Bragg, Blockhead logo, Brian Griffin, Conran Design, Fred Perry, Ian Dury, Jake Riviera, Left Book Club, Nick Lowe, Paul Carrack, Rob Tufnell, Squeeze, Suburban Voodoo, Suzanne Spiro

//Duggie Fields at home, late 1970s. © Brian Griffin. No reproduction without permission//

//Duggie Fields’ apartment, late 1970s. © Brian Griffin. No reproduction without permission//

Among my current projects is an article for Apartamento about the great British artist Duggie Fields and his flat in London’s Earl’s Court.

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Tags: Apartamento, Brian Griffin, Duggie Fields, Earl's Court, Grenfell Tower, Kensington & Chelsea Borough Council, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett

//© Brian Griffin//

I have written an essay for POP, the forthcoming book showcasing the great British photographer Brian Griffin’s engagement with music.

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Tags: B Stiff, Brian Griffin, Cynthia Lole, Depeche Mode, Devo, Echo & The Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Glen Colson, Iggy Pop, Kate Bush, Kickstarter, Management Today, Radar Records, Terry Rawlings

//Rush Hour London Bridge, London, 1974. Vintage gelatin silver print, printed c. 1974 12 x 16in//

//Martin, Elsynge Road, Wandsworth, London, 1977. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016 20 x 16in//

It’s exciting to note the opening today of photographer Brian Griffin’s first US solo show, Capitalist Realism at New York’s Steven Kasher Gallery.

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Tags: Brian Griffin, Capitalist Realism, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, Johnny Moped, Simon Callow, Steven Kasher Gallery

//Left: Top in blue suede, JW Anderson for Loewe. Right: White cotton shirt and blue flared trousers, both Kenzo//

Photographer Brian Griffin rarely fails to beguile, as evinced by these portraits from a series produced with stylist Emma Clifton for architectural/design/fashion magazine Disegno earlier this year.

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Tags: Arlette Ess, Brian Griffin, Chanel, Disegno, Elizabeth Wilson, Emma Clifton, JW Anderson, Kenzo, Meadham Kirchoff, Pleats Please, Prada

//Olympia Le-Tan handbag based on artwork for The Damned's 1977 LP Music For Pleasure, with promotional t-shirt for Fred Burns' documentary Johnny Moped Basically using 1978 lightbulb design//

So potent is the creative legacy of the graphic design master Barney Bubbles – who died on this day 30 years ago – that he is continually cited as an inspiration by contemporary visual communicators, while his name and work is attached to all manner of endeavours.

Recently, Bubbles artworks were chosen by the French fashionista Olympia Le-Tan to lead her exclusive collection of handbags. Meantime Tokyo lifestyle label retaW has named a range of fragrance products “Barney*” in celebration of “the many album covers he was responsible for in the 70s and 80s”.

//Barney* products named after Bubbles by Japanese lifestyle company retaW//

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Tags: (I Love The Sound Of) Breaking Glass, Basically Johnny Moped, Blockhead logo, Brian Griffin, Chalkie Davies, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Fred Burns, Ian Dury, Imperial Bedroom, Music For Pleasure, New Kids On The Block, Nick Lowe, Olympia-Le-Tan, retaW, Royal Photographic Society, Spasticus Autisticus, The Damned, The Photographers' Gallery

//Feature includes this Nick Logan self portrait//

The new issue of Arena Homme + features my interview with publishing legend Nick Logan, who founded the men’s fashion magazine 20 years ago.

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Tags: Alasdair McLellan, Arena, Arena Homme +, Ashley Heath, Brian Griffin, Juergen teller, Morrissey, NME, Smash Hits, Steven Klein, The Face