“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.
Last summer I spent a pleasant afternoon in the company of American academic Benjamin Court, who has been researching a dissertation entitled The Politics of Musical Amateurism, 1968-1981.
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.
Continue reading Here We Are: Britishness considered at this crucial juncture in our history
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.
Continue reading Barney Bubbles: Optics & Semantics at Rob Tufnell London
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.
Exciting news: Elizabeth Hamey, who signs her work ‘Refna’, has granted me access to her amazing archive of work at the cross-hatches of art, design and fashion in the 1960s and 70s.
Continue reading Refna revival: Elizabeth Hamey’s adventures in art, design + fashion
//Above and below: Screen grabs from the all-new George Cox website//
To mark the relaunch of the fifth-generation British rock’n’roll footwear brand George Cox, I have written an essay tracing the history of the company from the establishment by brewery worker George James Cox in 1906 to its welter of activities in the 21st century.
Continue reading George Cox: My essay on the great British brand and creator of the creeper
The Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry shirts are available to buy now online; click on the image above to find out more.
I’ve organised a small exhibition of artwork relating to designs used in the forthcoming Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry collaboration; it opens later this week at Fred Perry’s flagship London store.
The countdown is on to this years’s most exciting street-style collaboration: the limited edition Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry collection.
Continue reading Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry: This year’s most exciting street-style collab