The Conformist – artist Paul Kindersley’s group show about British non-conformity at Mayfair’s jewellry/art space Belmacz to which I contributed – is garnering rave reviews.
2010s
She’s A Punk Rocker UK : An antidote to male musings on 1976 and all that
You would literally paint the news on your t-shirt that day and became part of the news, part of the progress with your artwork and your music…the women in punk were doing that; their style was a demonstration of their visual art, about what they were, where they were at and what they believed in.
Caroline Coon, She’s A Punk Rocker UK
She’s A Punk Rocker UK – Zillah Minx’s 2010 celebration of British female non-conformity – is a fantastic antidote to the current male musings on 1976 and all that.
Continue reading She’s A Punk Rocker UK : An antidote to male musings on 1976 and all that
One to watch: Duke Brooks’ compelling film captures the creation of Claire Barrow’s painted canvas couture
Watch out for Duke Brooks’ film documenting artist/designer Claire Barrow’s painting of two 15-metre canvases from which she cut couture garments for her AW16 collection.
The Conformist: A vibrant, eccentric, chaotic delight – miss out at your peril!
The Conformist – artist Paul Kindersley’s counter intuitively-titled group show about non-conformity of expression from Emma, Lady Hamilton and Aubrey Beardsley to Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Julie Verhoeven – opened with a bang last night with a private view at Mayfair’s art and jewellery space Belmacz.
Continue reading The Conformist: A vibrant, eccentric, chaotic delight – miss out at your peril!
Truth And Soul: Sylvain Sylvain relaunches a cult rock’n’roll fashion label
On a recent trip to Austin, Texas, I enjoyed many encounters with members of the region’s creative community, not least expat British sci-fi Titan Michael Moorcock and his delightful wife Linda, transplanted Westernwear expert Jerry Ryan and his Heritage Boot emporium and, as previously noted here, the charming duo Jesse Sublett and Lois Richwine.
I also had fun with the visiting New York Doll Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi, in town for a residency at the Hotel Vegas, on the the city’s hip eastside.
Continue reading Truth And Soul: Sylvain Sylvain relaunches a cult rock’n’roll fashion label
Dastardly deeds done down South: 1960s Austin Gangsters by Jesse Sublett
Over cocktails a couple of nights back at Austin’s Townes Van Zandt Hotel I was captivated by writer Jesse Sublett’s tales of the Texas capital’s not-so-distant criminal past.
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‘Punk will come back in new forms always because the attitude is so very, very good; it’s to do with people doing things for themselves, controlling their own methods and their own culture’: Malcolm McLaren 1982
This is an extract from an interview with the late Malcolm McLaren in October 1982, conducted just after he and design partner Vivienne Westwood had shown their fashion collection Punkature.
As the promulgator, initially through music and fashion and then into other forms from film and art to design and media, McLaren defined Punk as an anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate attitude imbued with a D-I-Y spirit which embraces chaos.
Janette Beckman’s Punk Hip Hop Mashup opens in London next week
Next week witnesses the opening of a London exhibition of reworked images by music/street art photographer Janette Beckman.
Continue reading Janette Beckman’s Punk Hip Hop Mashup opens in London next week
A brief journey through David Bowie’s London from the 40s to the 10s with me and Herb Lester
As a tribute to the late rock star, I have joined forces with map-makers Herb Lester to create an online guide to David Bowie’s London from his birth at 40 Stansfield Road in Brixton in 1947 through his solo art show in Mayfair in 1995 to the giant retrospective David Bowie Is exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington in 2013.
Touched by the hand of Bowie
It is of course very sad to note the death of David Bowie; 69 is too young, particularly for such an important figure in the pop cultural landscape with an evident abundance of creative contributions still to make to our lives.