Read the story behind this obscure record sleeve design – for a single which failed to dent the Top 75 on release 30 years ago – over on the Barney Bubbles Blog.
The story behind a long-lost single sleeve design
Apr 18th, 2013
Graphics: Simon Haynes’ designs for City Lights Studio 1972
Mar 11th, 2013
//Swingtag, printed card, 4" x 2", 1972//
Artist/designer Simon Haynes has allowed me access to some of the treasures in his archive. Over the next few weeks I’ll be dipping into it and presenting a selection of artworks, display items, stage sets and graphics he has created over the years.
//Design on silk swatch for fabric for shop interior fittings, 1972//
Feast your eyes on this Barney Bubbles rarity
Feb 4th, 2013
A little-known design by Barney Bubbles – the graphics genius and subject of my book Reasons To be Cheerful – has emerged.
Justin de Blank: 1927-2012
Jan 5th, 2013
//Marque, Barney Bubbles, 1969.//
I interviewed the restaurateur and fine food champion Justin de Blank – who died last month aged 85 – for Reasons To Be Cheerful; de Blank recognised Barney Bubbles’ design talents when the pair met at the Conran Group’s design studio in the 60s.
//Justin de Blank, mid 70s. Courtesy Melanie de Blank.//
White Noise: Pictures from the exhibition
Jun 13th, 2012
//Shoboshobo's installation faces off with the Barney Bubbles exhibit The Past The Present & The Possible. (c) R. Pelletier.//
The exhibition White Noise: Quand le graphisme fait du bruit – held at Les Subsistances in Chaumont, France – closed on Sunday to the public, though is being visited this week by students, teachers and others from educational institutions.
Remembering graphic artist David Band
Apr 23rd, 2012
The Scottish Sunday Herald’s Teddy Jamieson has sent me this piece about the late graphic artist David Band, who is probably best known for his work for such 80s groups as Spandau Ballet and Altered Images but established a strong reputation in Australia before succumbing to cancer at the age of 51 last year.
British Posters: Advertising Art & Activism
Apr 19th, 2012
//Kiss Kiss, Go To Work On An Egg, Christopher Logue + Tom Salter, 1968.//
//Go To Work On An Egg, Mather & Crowther, 1964.//
“People do love huge pieces of paper”.
So runs the quote heading up a section in V&A curator Catherine Flood’s excellent overview British Posters: Advertising Art & Activism, published by the museum to coincide with its multifarious design celebrations this Olympic year.
And it’s true. We do.
Or we all did, when this vital form was simultaneously a mass-medium and a highly personal communications device, when huge promotional budgets and lack of urban controls resulted in the accretive papering of our street-scapes. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, we gave posters pride of place on the walls of our bedrooms, bedsits and sitting rooms.
//Top left: Your Britain, Fight For It Now, Abram Games, 1942. Right: Keep Death Off The Road, Carelessness Kills, William Little, 1949.//
Chaumont show selection continues
Apr 9th, 2012
//Holding foldout sleeve for the 1972 album Revelations: A Musical Anthology For The Glastonbury Fayre, designed by Barney Bubbles and released in 1972. Photo: Sophie Demay//
Artist/curator Sophie Demay and I are continuing to sort through potential materials for this summer’s exhibition White Noise, which Demay is creating with Etienne Hervy as part of this year’s International Poster & Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont, France.
See more images from the selection process on the Barney Bubbles blog.
Next exhibition: White Noise in Chaumont May 26 – June 10
Apr 5th, 2012
//Build-your-own poster adverts for Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True in music papers published July 1977.//
Selection has started on the Barney Bubbles presence at this summer’s group exhibition about the visual language of music, White Noise: Quand le graphisme fait du bruit (When graphics make the noise) at the 23rd International Poster & Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont, France, from May 26 to June 10.
I have supplied the text for the catalogue and last week met co-curator Sophie Demay to start the exhibit selection; Sophie is creating White Noise with Étienne Hervy, the Chaumont festival artistic director and former editor of French graphics magazine Etapes.
SXSW installations: The look of music
Mar 16th, 2012
If you’re in Austin TX – and there’s a chance you might be since hundreds of thousands of people have descended on the city for the annual SXSW film/music/interactive conflab taking place there this week – try and nip along to the Ray Ban Legendary Visions house at 78 Rainey Street on the eastside for a gander at the room collages/installations I have engineered to reflect my take on the look of music.
