Paul Gorman is…

The Face, May 1992: Love Sees No Colour

Apr 29th, 2014
P1150601

//Cover: Boy George with Mica + Jade, styling David Mignon, photography Thomas Krygier//

From time to time I’m going to be turning over information and images here as I go through the process of writing my book Legacy: The story of The Face.

Today I spent an enjoyable and enlightening few hours interviewing former editor Richard Benson; during our conversation it became clear that one of the turning points in the history of this significant magazine occurred with the spring 1992 publication of the issue headed Love Sees No Colour.

This coincided with the High Court judgment against the magazine in the unfortunate libel case brought by actor/singer Jason Donovan on the grounds that he had been branded a liar and a hypocrite as a result of the inference that he was gay.

P1150605

//The Face May 1992, pp6-7: Nick Logan’s editorial on the right//

P1150607

//PP58-59: Left, montage by Keith Piper/Right, Kate Moss by Enrique Badalescu, styling Camille Nickerson + Lucy Ewing//

P1150606

//PP38-39: Seen, Gilbert & George, 1989//

The theme of tolerance had been hatched by Benson’s predecessor Sheryl Garratt long before the dispute reached, in publisher Nick Logan’s words, “its unhappy conclusion”.

In terms of the magazine’s narrative, the issue affirmed The Face’s position as the lightning rod of the progress of popular culture in the inclusive 90s.

P1150608

//PP76-77: Left, George O’Dowd in his Absolutely Queer T-shirt – “Homophobes are fine. I just don’t want them near my children.”/Right, Rebel MC in Michiko Koshino T-shirt, Ezra Oban + Dominique Kelly in Katharine Hamnett Protect + Survive vests. Photos: Kate Garner + Thomas Krygier//

P1150610

//PP82-83: Left (top), Apachi Indian in One World shirt by Paul Smith, (below) Banderas in Love Sees No Colour shirts by Joe Casely-Hayford,/Right, Des’Ree in No To Negrophobia T-shirt by Trevor Norris. Photos: Kate Garner + Thomas Krygier//

P1150609

//PP84-85: Left, (top left) Paul Reid in Face Love outfit by Dirk Bikkembergs, (top right) Charlotte Champion + Gabriella Stonebridge in Jean Colonna and Martin Margiela, (below) Colin “Sweet C” McMillan in Love Sees No Colour T-shirt by Gio Goi and Turn Your Nose Up At Racism by Bella Freud/Right, Michael Clark in Nazi Shithead outfit by Leigh Bowery. Photos: Kate Garner + Thomas Krygier//

Designed by Boris Bencic and Lee Swillingham, the issue tipped the hat to those figures who had played a part in the 80s story – Boy George, Paul Smith, Leigh Bowery – and also hit the mark with the generation setting the pace for the new decade, whether it be Joe Bloggs, Kate Moss or Martin Margiela.

Produced in an all-hands-to-the-pump atmosphere, with Logan and Garratt in daily court attendance and the all-too-real prospect of forced closure as a result of the huge legal bills resulting from the Donovan case, The Face May 1992 is a cracking issue, one which stands up as a consummate example of journalistic excellence achieved under duress.

Legacy: The story of The Face is published by Thames & Hudson in autumn 2017.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last days of Derek Boshier’s Change at Tanya Leighton Berlin

Apr 11th, 2014
06_LEIGHTON_BOSHIER_CHANGE_9b

//Derek Boshier, Reel, 1973. Still from 16mm film transferred to video, colour, sound, 6:00 minutes//

03_LEIGHTON_BOSHIER_CHANGE_7a

//Best Foot Forward, 2014. Still from HD video, color, sound, 5:00 minutes//

Today and tomorrow are the closing days of Change, the Derek Boshier exhibition at Berlin’s Tanya Leighton Gallery.

On art-agenda, Ana Teixeira Pinto writes: “Providing a comprehensive view of his unfairly under-appreciated oeuvre, this extremely well-curated exhibition pairs the artist’s historical films with more recent work such as Best Foot Forward and Did You See… That? (both 2014).”

02_LEIGHTON_BOSHIER_CHANGE_1

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Derek Boshier: Rethink/Re-Entry – assembling the materials for long overdue monograph

Feb 5th, 2014
3c0379fe8e4811e398be0a56c26576e4_8

//Exhibition cards and private view invitations, 1973 to date//

I’m assembling materials for Rethink/Re-Entry, the long-overdue monograph of the great British artist Derek Boshier I am currently editing.

The book takes its title from the early Boshier painting which inspired rock’s ultimate art-directed star Bryan Ferry to choose the name Remake/Remodel for the first track on Roxy Music’s game-changing debut LP.

rethink

//Rethink/Re-entry, oil on canvas, 1962//

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Face book announced in The Bookseller

Jul 23rd, 2013

Starting work on my new book – Legacy: The Story Of The Face

Jul 10th, 2013

I am now starting work on a new book.

Legacy: The Story Of The Face is to be published by Thames & Hudson in 2015 and has the support and involvement of Nick Logan, the owner and founder of what became one of the most important and influential publications of recent times.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,