Barney Bubbles
Encyclopedia
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, painting and music video direction. He is most renowned for his distinctive contribution to the graphic design associated with the British independent music scene during the 1970s and early 1980s. His symbol-laden and riddle-laden record sleeves were his most visible output.
Early life
Colin Fulcher was born in Tranmere Road, WhittonWhitton, London
Whitton is a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, situated 10.7 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in Central London...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
in July 1942 and attended Isleworth Grammar.
In 1958 he embarked on a retail display course for a National Diploma in Design (NDD) in the art school of Twickenham College of Technology. During his five years at the college Fulcher received a multi-disciplinary education which included training in cardboard design, display and packaging (exploited later in his record sleeve work).
Initial career
After leaving college in 1963, Colin Fulcher started his career as an assistant at design company Michael Tucker + Associates, London, whose clients included PirelliPirelli
Pirelli & C. SpA is a diverse multinational company based in Milan, Italy. The company, the world’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer, is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers.Founded in Milan in 1872,...
. In a rare interview, Bubbles described Tucker's discipline as "very Swiss; very hard; unjustified; very grey. He taught me everything about typography". Tucker's studio produced the posters for Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson is an English film director. His best-known international success is the 1981 multiple Academy Award-winning film, Chariots of Fire.- Early life :...
's 1967 Pirelli-sponsored film The Tortoise & The Hare (for which Fulcher designed the poster lettering on a freelance basis).
In May 1965 Fulcher was recruited by The Conran Group as senior graphic designer alongside such designers as Stafford Cliff, Virginia Clive-Smith and John Muggeridge. Here he produced a variety of commercial designs, including the Norman archer logo for Strongbow cider
Strongbow Cider
Strongbow is a brand of dry cider manufactured in England by H.P. Bulmer. Popular since it was launched in 1962, it is the best selling cider in the world, and its sales account for more than 20% of all the cider sold in the UK...
and items for Conran's new homewares chain Habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
. Fulcher also established an association with Conran director Justin de Blank which blossomed when de Blank exited to launch his upmarket provisions company and restaurant business in 1968.
Transitionary period
In 1965-66 Fulcher organised 'happenings' and parties/events under the name A1 Good Guyz with fellow Twickenham art college students David WillsDavid Wills
David Wills is one of the founding members of Negativland. He was a cable repairman when he joined the group with a then-teenage Mark Hosler and Richard Lyons, until he retired in the '90s...
and Roy Burge.
From 1967 he began changing his name to Barney Bubbles and, with friends, operated a light show for bands such as The Gun
The Gun (band)
The Gun was a late 1960s British rock guitar trio who had a single British Top Ten hit, "Race With The Devil" and recorded two albums before disbanding...
and Quintessence at underground venues such as The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
in Chalk Farm, Jim Haynes' Drury Lane Arts Lab
Arts Lab
The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK and continental Europe, including the expanded I.C.A...
, The Electric Cinema and Middle Earth.
With Wills, Bubbles undertook freelance design commissions, including a redesign of Motor Racing magazine and a recipe book for the English Egg Marketing Board. They also created Oz
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
magazine issue 12 The Tax Dodge Special (published May 1968), involving a wider network of friends and associates.
In mid-1968 Bubbles visited the west coast of the United States.
Teenburger Designs
In Blissful Company
In Blissful Company is the first studio album by the English group Quintessence.-Track listing:# Giants # Manco Capac # Body # Gange Mai # Chant # Pearl and Bird # Notting Hill Gate # Midnight Mode...
. The gatefold sleeve design uses illustrations by 'Gopala' on the front and back, and contains a monochrome glued-in booklet inside.
Teenburger also provided record sleeve designs for the bands Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.-Formation:...
and Red Dirt
Red Dirt
Red dirt refers to:* Red, iron-rich soil found in various regions of the world, such as the red clay soil that dominates the American South, especially around the piedmont and Oklahoma* Red Dirt , a genre of music originating in Stillwater, Oklahoma...
, as well as Vertigo
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
label artists Cressida
Cressida (progressive rock band)
Cressida were a British progressive rock band, best known for their mellow, symphonic sound. Originally known as Charge, they were active from 1968 and 1970, and recorded two albums for Vertigo.-Career:...
, Gracious! and Dr Z (whose Three Parts To My Soul LP is particularly noted for its complex and colourful fold-out sleeve).
Between 1970 and 1972 Bubbles also worked as the designer of underground newspaper Friends
Friends (magazine)
Friends magazine was launched in London in winter 1969 as a direct result of the closure by its US parent of the short-lived UK edition of Rolling Stone....
(later re-named Frendz).
During this period he gained a reputation for his drug consumption, particularly LSD, which informed his work.
Hawkwind (and other 1970s rock)
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
.
Responsible for their album sleeves (including X in Search of Space, Doremi Fasol Latido
Doremi Fasol Latido
Doremi Fasol Latido is the third studio album from Hawkwind, released in 1972. It reached #14 on the UK album charts.-New Members:The rhythm section of Dave Anderson and Terry Ollis was replaced by Lemmy and Simon King, both of whose style differed notably from their predecessors. This changed the...
and Space Ritual
Space Ritual
The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the Billboard Top 200, peaking at #179....
), Bubbles engaged in every aspect of realising the group's visual identity: titling releases and designing posters, adverts, stage decoration and performance plans, all of which were adorned with mystical and mock-Teutonic insignia.
In 1972 Bubbles also produced the triple LP package Glastonbury Fayre
Glastonbury Fayre
Glastonbury Fayre is a 1972 documentary film directed by Nicolas Roeg and Peter Neal of the 1971 Glastonbury Festival which was held on 20–24 June 1971.-About the film:...
comprising a six-panel fold-out sleeve, two poster inserts, booklet and a cut-out and build miniature pyramid, housed in a clear vinyl bag (with two sleeve variations and three label variations).
During this period (1972–1975), Bubbles designed album sleeves and additional material for such acts as The Sutherland Brothers
Sutherland Brothers
The Sutherland Brothers originally performed as a folk / rock duo in the field of British music in the early 1970s, and then from 1973 to 1978 joined with rock band Quiver to record and tour as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver...
, Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne
Kevin Coyne was a musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The former "anti-star" was born on 27 January 1944 in Derby, UK, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Germany, on 2 December 2004....
, Edgar Broughton Band
Edgar Broughton Band
The Edgar Broughton Band, founded in 1968 in Warwick, England, is an English Psychedelic Rock group.-Career:The band started their career as a blues group under the name of The Edgar Broughton Blues Band, playing to a dedicated but limited following in the region around their hometown of Warwick...
, Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers were one of the main British pub rock groups of the early 1970s. Later managed by Jake Riviera, who first worked for the band as a roadie, they reached their peak as part of the "Naughty Rhythms Tour" of 1975, along with other stalwarts of the same scene, Dr...
, Quiver, the Kursaal Flyers and Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
.
In 1976, Bubbles' design relationship with Hawkwind came to an end, rekindled briefly in 1978 for Hawklords
Hawklords
Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. They were borne from the disbanded Hawkwind and a local Devon group named Ark with the addition of former Pilot keyboardist Steve Swindells.The use of the name Hawklords instead of Hawkwind may...
, and continued via his friendship with Hawkwind's saxophonist player Nik Turner
Nik Turner
Nik Turner is a British musician, best known as a founding member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer...
.
From 1976, Bubbles avoided crediting himself on artwork, working either anonymously or using additional pseudonyms.
Stiff, Radar and F Beat (and other punk and New Wave)
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
as designer and art director early in 1977.
With the label's co-founder Jake Riviera
Jake Riviera
Jake Riviera is a music business entrepreneur best known for his management of such performers as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and as co-founder of pioneering British indie label Stiff Records.Riviera was in school bands and local groups in north-west London in the 60s, and became road manager of...
, Bubbles generated a body of creative work which helped secure Stiff's reputation as an exciting new independent label. Bubbles created sleeves for bands including The Damned, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Ian Dury
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
and Wreckless Eric
Wreckless Eric
Wreckless Eric is an English rock and roll/new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single " Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine’s list of the best punk rock singles of all time...
. Often these were accompanied by quirky logos (such as the Blockhead 'face' which may have been based on the 1940s Left Book Club
Left Book Club
The Left Book Club, founded in 1936, was a key left-wing institution of the late 1930s and 1940s in the United Kingdom set up by Stafford Cripps, Victor Gollancz and John Strachey to revitalise and educate the British Left. The Club's aim was to "help in the struggle For world peace and against...
ideogram), adverts and promotional items.
For example, the marketing of Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
's My Aim Is True
My Aim Is True
My Aim Is True is the debut album by Elvis Costello.The album was recorded at Pathway Studios in Holloway, London Borough of Islington, over the course of 1976 during late-night studio sessions, in a total of twenty-four hours...
included adverts in three UK music papers from which a poster of Costello could be constructed, and the first 1000 pressings contained a Help Us Hype Elvis insert which if completed and returned to Stiff ensured a friend would received a free copy (something which generated attention not only from the public, but also from the music press itself).
When Riviera left Stiff in late 1977, Bubbles joined him at new label Radar Records
Radar Records
Radar Records was a UK-based record label formed by Martin Davis who had previously worked at United Artists Records, and Andrew Lauder, who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions of Liberty Records and United Artists...
and later at Riviera's F-Beat Records
F-Beat Records
F-Beat Records was one of the record labels set up by Jake Riviera in late 1979/early 1980, at the same time as he started Demon Records. The label's first release, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down by Elvis Costello & the Attractions, reached number 4 in the UK charts, the highest singles chart...
. Bubbles created designs for artists such as Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
, Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter is an American country singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter and her first husband, Carl Smith....
and Clive Langer
Clive Langer
Clive Langer is a British record producer active from the mid 1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films Still Crazy and Brothers of the Head. Prior to his record producing career he was a guitarist with the British cult band Deaf SchoolLanger...
& The Boxes.
Meantime, Bubbles also maintained his freelance output, not only continuing to produce designs for Stiff, but also for Peter Jenner
Peter Jenner
Peter Jenner is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises.- Early career :...
(Ian Dury
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
and Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
's manager), and others, creating a prodigious output by working for such bands, musicians and performers as Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
, Generation X
Generation X (band)
Generation X was a British punk rock band, formed on 21 November 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and John Towe.-History:...
, Big Star
Big Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later...
, Johnny Moped
Johnny Moped
Johnny Moped were a mid 1970s English punk rock group from south London, who once had Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible within their ranks.-Biography:...
, Whirlwind, Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
, Clover
Clover (band)
Clover was an American country rock band formed in Mill Valley, California in 1967. They are best known as the backup band for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True , and for members later forming or joining more successful acts, including Huey Lewis and the News, The Doobie Brothers,...
, The Sinceros
The Sinceros
The Sinceros were a new wave, power pop band from London, England, who recorded two albums for Epic Records, The Sound of Sunbathing and Pet Rock . Both albums were released worldwide and achieved moderate commercial success...
, Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman , also known as Roger "Chappo" Chapman and Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the Progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1967 and also the rock, R&B band Streetwalkers formed in 1974...
, Phillip Goodhand-Tait
Phillip Goodhand-Tait
Phillip Goodhand-Tait is a singer-songwriter, record producer and keyboard player.-Life and career:Goodhand-Tait is his real surname, although at school and into the mid 1960s, he was known as Phil Tait. His mother taught piano and his father was an active Trades Unionist...
, Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood may refer to:In music:*Dr. Feelgood , an album by American band Mötley Crüe**"Dr. Feelgood" , a single and the title track from that album*"Dr. Feel Good", a song by Travie McCoy on the album Lazarus...
, Inner City Unit
Inner City Unit
Inner City Unit is a British punk/space rock band fronted by ex-Hawkwind founder Nik Turner on saxophone with Judge Trev Thoms or Steve Pond , Dead Fred , Baz Magneto, Dave Anderson or Nazar Ali Khan , and Mick Stupp or Dino Ferari on drums.-History:Thoms and Ferrari were both key members of...
and The Psychedelic Furs. As a result, Bubbles' work appeared on releases by labels such as Aura, Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
, Utility
Utility
In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....
, Go! Discs, Epic
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
, Charisma
Charisma
The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Line Records
Line Records
Line Records is a Brazilian gospel record label and it belongs to Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Was founded in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992 with the intent to tend the gospel music demand.-Artists:*Adilson Silva*Adriana Ferreira*Adriana Marques...
, United Artists
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
and Riddle Records.
Bubbles' signature style emerged as one that was colourful, playful, loaded with geometry, shape, art-history and music-history reference, jokes, cryptograms and symbolism. The over-riding appetite was for going against the grain of accepted design standards. His work is simultaneously complex (loaded with meaning) and simple and direct (in its delivery).
Examples include:
- Elvis CostelloElvis CostelloElvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
- This Year's ModelThis Year's ModelThis Year's Model is Elvis Costello's second album and his first with The Attractions, released in 1978 . It was recorded mainly at Eden Studios in West London....
; which was designed to have a deliberate mis-cropping so the entire design was off-register. - The Damned - Damned Damned Damned; a limited number of which were deliberately printed with a photo of Eddie and the Hot Rods on the back of the album cover, rather than The Damned playing at The Roxy Club. An 'erratum' sticker was put on the back cover apologizing for this 'mistake', and on the front of the LP - on top of the original shrinkwrap - was a red 'food-fight' sticker that says 'Damned Damned', thus completing the LP title when read underneath the band's name.
- Elvis Costello - Armed Forces; with an extended back panel consisting of folding flaps, this included postcards which carried the instruction DON'T JOIN (advice against joining the armed forces, and simultaneously a message that these postcards had been die-cut away from the rest of the sleeve).
- Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Do It Yourself; which was released in 28 sleeve variations, all of which were wallpaper designs supplied by manufacturer CrownCrown WallpaperCrown Wallpaper was an agglomeration of wallpaper manufacturers in the United Kingdom in 1899....
.
Music promo videos
As a video director, Barney Bubbles directed several videos. These included The SpecialsThe Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
' "Ghost Town
Ghost Town
"Ghost Town" is the title of a 1981 song by the British ska band, The Specials. The song spent three weeks at number one and ten weeks in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Addressing themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities, the song is remembered for...
", Squeeze's "Is That Love
Is That Love
"Is That Love" was the first single released from Squeeze's fourth album, East Side Story. It peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2007, Scottish group Travis covered the song on their single "Selfish Jean"....
" and "Tempted", Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
's "Clubland" and "New Lace Sleeves" and Fun Boy Three
Fun Boy Three
Fun Boy Three were a short-lived but successful English New Wave Pop band which ran from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials.-History:...
's "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)". Two promos for punk act Johnny Moped
Johnny Moped
Johnny Moped were a mid 1970s English punk rock group from south London, who once had Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible within their ranks.-Biography:...
- "Incendiary Device" and "Darling Let's Have Another Baby" - were never commercially released to broadcasters.
Other work
In 1978 Barney Bubbles was responsible for the redesign of weekly music paper the NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, including a new logo design (which is no longer in use).
In 1979, Derek Boshier
Derek Boshier
Derek Boshier is a British pop artist works in various media including painting, drawing, collage, photography, film and sculpture....
curated an exhibition entitled Lives at the Hayward Gallery
Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre, part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the Royal National Theatre and British Film Institute...
, London. He commissioned Bubbles to design the catalogue and poster. Together with photographer Chris Gabrin, Bubbles also exhibited a video and mixed-media installation in the exhibition.
In the early 1980s Bubbles created furniture designs, some of which were featured in The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
, November 1981.
In 1982 Bubbles conceived the album Ersatz. Working primarily with Nik Turner
Nik Turner
Nik Turner is a British musician, best known as a founding member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer...
and other musicians from Inner City Unit
Inner City Unit
Inner City Unit is a British punk/space rock band fronted by ex-Hawkwind founder Nik Turner on saxophone with Judge Trev Thoms or Steve Pond , Dead Fred , Baz Magneto, Dave Anderson or Nazar Ali Khan , and Mick Stupp or Dino Ferari on drums.-History:Thoms and Ferrari were both key members of...
, the LP was released under the name of The Imperial Pompadours.
Bubbles had always painted privately, increasingly so in the early 1980s.
Death
Barney Bubbles committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in London on 14 November 1983. At this period in time he had considerable personal and financial worries. His sleeves were being rejected by musicians such as Elvis Costello, and record companies, and he was being chased by Inland Revenue for unpaid taxes dating back many years. He suffered from bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, and experienced increasingly frequent bouts of depression and erratic behaviour, for example, close friends have recounted him lacerating his face with razorblades and making threats to kill. He committed suicide on his late parents' wedding anniversary.
Influence and legacy
The first exhibition dedicated to examining Barney Bubbles' work was held at Artomatic, London in 2001, curated by the art-design team Rebecca And Mike.A biography Reasons to be Cheerful: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles by Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman is an English writer.-Career:From 1978, Gorman worked on weekly news for trade publications. In 1983, Gorman won the Periodical Publishers Association award for campaigning journalism for a series of investigative food industry articles and in 1990 was appointed west coast bureau chief...
was published in 2008. A revised second edition was published in 2010. Gorman also curated the exhibition Process: The working practices of Barney Bubbles staged at London gallery Chelsea Space in 2010.
Bubbles' work features in general and group exhibitions. In 1998 examples were included in the exhibition Destroy: Punk Graphic Design in Britain at London's Southbank Centre. In 2004 his work was included in Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties at London's Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
. In late 2011 his work is included in Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-1990 at London's Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
.
On 2 January 2012 at 4pm GMT, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a documentary about Bubbles made by British writer Mark Hodkinson..
External links
- Barney Bubbles: Artist and Designer. Career overview by graphic designer John CoulthartJohn CoulthartJohn Coulthart is a British graphic artist, illustrator, author and designer who has produced book covers and illustrations, CD covers and posters...
. - Barney Bubbles Blog Blog of the book Reasons To Be CheerfulReasons to Be CheerfulReasons to be Cheerful is the first book about the influential British visual artist Barney Bubbles .Described in The Sunday Times as "fascinating and definitive", Reasons to be Cheerful is written by Paul Gorman and contains close to 600 images, many rare and previously unpublished, including...
: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles by Paul GormanPaul GormanPaul Gorman is an English writer.-Career:From 1978, Gorman worked on weekly news for trade publications. In 1983, Gorman won the Periodical Publishers Association award for campaigning journalism for a series of investigative food industry articles and in 1990 was appointed west coast bureau chief... - Brian Griffin on Barney Bubbles. Tribute by friend and photographer Brian GriffinBrian GriffinBrian Griffin is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is voiced by Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family, in a 15-minute short on December 20, 1998. Brian was created and designed by MacFarlane himself...
. - David Wills Tells Tales. Anecdotal Barney Bubbles blog by lifelong friend, fellow student and designer, David Wills.
- Philm Freax: Barney Bubbles: In Memoriam. A memorial page by friend and photographer Phil Franks.
- Philm Freax: Friends: Barney Bubbles Includes Phil Franks' photos and text extracts from "Days In The Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961-'71" by Jonathon GreenJonathon GreenJonathon Green is a British lexicographer of slang and writer on the history of alternative cultures...
. - Philm Freax: Hawkwind X-In Search of Space.