‘He stuck out his tongue and made devil faces in the glass’: The Conformist to feature artists, designers, writers, performers, utopians, outsiders, posers, perverts and other figures who have affronted or inverted the idea of ‘conformity’

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I am among the participants in The Conformist, a group exhibition being organised for the New Year by artist Paul Kindersley at the gallery of Julia Muggenburg’s extraordinary London art/jewellery establishment Belmacz.

Taking its title from Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 study of the psychology of fascism, The Conformist moves from the 18th century to the present, bringing together “artists, designers, writers, performers, utopians, outsiders, posers, perverts and other figures who have affronted or inverted the idea of ‘conformity’. By turns contemporary and arcane, gilded and abject, the exhibition celebrates those aspects of creativity that have skirted on the perimeter of the ‘mainstream’”.

As well as making my own contribution, I am arranging the inclusion of work by the late cultural iconoclast Malcolm McLaren and photographer David Parkinson as well as participation by the musician and writer Jah Wobble.

I’ll be posting more news on The Conformist over the coming weeks. Keep your eye on the Belmacz gallery page here.