//The premises of Jack English Snr’s lighting shop in Leicester’s Granby Street provide the book’s cover image//

//Will English (right) with Helen Robinson and Steph Raynor in a transport cafe c.1970. Photo by Rose Kendall//

//David Parkinson and his Messerschmitt bubble car, 1974. Photography: Will English//

Perfect Binding, the recently published book by British experimental filmmaker/broadcaster/bookseller William English, is a psychogeographic portrait of a particular strain of cultural activity in a particular place at a particular time: the Midlands city of Leicester from the 1950s to the 70s.

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Tags: Acme Attractions, Bill Burns, Boy, Captain Maurice Seddon, Cecilia Green, David Parkinson, Helen Robinson, Hugh de la Cruz, Jansje Schoen, Jim Mellors, Kirby Muxloe, Leicester, Perfect Binding, PX, Ray Gosling, Steph Raynor, The Dining Room, Victoria Ashley, Vivienne Westwood, William English, Young Fabian

//Front, Run To Me catalogue, 25 x 20cm, 44pp//

//Unconditional Love, Sam Jackson, 2017//

In the exhibition Run To Me – opening tomorrow at Old Street’s Charlie Smith London – curator Faye Dowling presents a quizzical visual exchange between painter Sam Jackson and photographer Derek Ridgers.

//First part of my essay faced with Tanya, The Batcave, Derek Ridgers 1983//

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Tags: Charlie Smith London, Derek Ridgers, Run To Me, Sam Jackson, The Batcave, Torture Garden, Tuinol Barry

//Jean Shrimpton in Mr Freedom Minnie Mouse top, Hans Feurer, Fancy Dressing, Nova, December 1970, with the original design on tracing paper by Refna. No reproduction without permission//

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.

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Tags: Adrian Mann, Alkasura, Elizabeth Hamey, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, English Boy, Goofy, Hans Feurer, Jean Shrimpton, Jimmy Page, John Lloyd, Kleptomania, Mick Jagger, Mick Rock, Mickey Mouse, Ossie Clark, Paul Reeves, Refna, Richard Burton, Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, The Universal Witness, The Venus Of Urbino, The Yardbirds, Titian, Trevor myles, Twen, Walt Disney Co

Tonight sees the opening of a group show featuring the work of one of my favourite contemporary figurative artists, Emma Hopkins.

//Uta. Mixed media on polyester, 125 x 57cm. Emma Hopkins 2016//

Hopkins’ work unflinchingly considers the raw beauty of the human anatomy and physiognomy. As she says: “I paint people from the inside out.”

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Tags: Dellasposa, Emma Hopkins, Isabella Watling, Sabatino Cersosimo, Simon Davis, Wanda Bernardino

//Le Macabre, 23 Meard Street, London W1. Photo: Unknown//

“When I started working as the Saturday boy at Let It Rock (in 1973), Malcolm McLaren used to take me around these strange places which played a part in early rock & roll. One time we went to Le Macabre. I don’t know how he knew about it, but it was the real thing. The tables were coffin lids and the jukebox only had songs to do with death.”

Glen Matlock, interview transcript for The Look, 2000.

A chance encounter on eBay spurred artist Robert Rubbish into creating one of the key elements of his current exhibition Spiritus Soho Volume Zero.

Rubbish – who is one of many mourning the recent death of his friend and documentary subject, the poet Jock Scot – is known for deep associations with central London’s Soho, and has celebrated its sleazy past and uneasy present in his own work and with the other members of the art collective Le Gun.

//Dilly Boys, Robert Rubbish, 2016//

//The Sailor And The Mermaid, Robert Rubbish, 2016//

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Tags: Ancien, Dead In England, Glen Matlock, Jock Scot, Le Gun, Le Macabre, Look At Life, Robert Rubbish, Society Club

//Rush Hour London Bridge, London, 1974. Vintage gelatin silver print, printed c. 1974 12 x 16in//

//Martin, Elsynge Road, Wandsworth, London, 1977. Gelatin silver print, printed January 2016 20 x 16in//

It’s exciting to note the opening today of photographer Brian Griffin’s first US solo show, Capitalist Realism at New York’s Steven Kasher Gallery.

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Tags: Brian Griffin, Capitalist Realism, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, Johnny Moped, Simon Callow, Steven Kasher Gallery

//The Dance, from the series News From The Metropolis, Derek Boshier, 2014. Ink and collage on paper//

//From Best Foot Forward, Derek Boshier, 2014. Film//

To coincide with the publication of the Derek Boshier monograph Rethink/Re-entry, writer/curator Guy Brett and I are putting together an exhibition of the same name which will be held at Flowers Gallery in Cork Street, Central London this autumn.

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Tags: Arts Council Of Great Britain, Clash 2nd Songbook, David Hockney, Flowers Gallery, Guy Brett, Joe Strummer, Lives: An exhibition of artists whose work is based on other peoples' lives, Lodger, Mick Jones, News From The Metropolis, Pennie Smith., Posy Simmonds, RB Kitaj, Steve Johnston

//Autoportrait, Pierre Molinier, 1962//

At all times, my acts and my actions in life have stemmed from love or eroticism, as you like it.
Pierre Molinier, The Shaman And Its Creatures

Pierre Molinier, “the man and the painter, the genius and the pervert, the ‘lesbienne’ and the guns lover” is not an easy figure to pin down.

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Tags: Luciano Castelli, Pierre Molinier, Richard Saltoun Gallery, The Shaman And Its Creatures

//Rebecca. Photo: Jean-Francois Carly//

//Ale. Photo: Jean-Francois Carly//

Surrender After is the title of photographer/director Jean-Francois Carly’s show of nudes opening at Forge & Co in east London next week.

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Tags: Forge & Co, Jean Francois Carly

//Thea Porter by Penny Slinger//

There’s a nice story behind this portrait of the late fashion designer Thea Porter, whose talents are celebrated at the just-opened exhibition at London’s Fashion & Textiles Museum.

During preparations for the exhibition and the accompanying book, the curator and fashion historian Laura McLaws Helms visited British artist Penny Slinger, who had made feathered masks and modeled in a catwalk show for Porter in the early 70s.
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Tags: Blum & Poe, Fashion & Textile Museum, Hayward Gallery, History Is Now, Laura McLaws Helm, Penny Slinger, Thea Porter, Tokyo