Welcome To The Pleasuredome original art up for auction

June 10, 2023

After owning Lo Cole‘s original paintings for Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome for 20 years it’s time to pass them on to another Frankie fan. They’re going up for auction via Omega Auctions on July 4th – you can view the lot here.
These are the original cover, inside and back cover paintings Lo made for the album and I’ve requested the three paintings be kept together and sold as a set. An interview I made with Lo and the story of the artwork is here on my Art of ZTT site. With the release of ‘Relax’ approaching its 40th anniversary this autumn and the 40th of the LP next year, it’s time to pass these on. Possibly the ultimate Frankie collectable.

Posted in Art, Event, Originals. | No Comments | Tags: Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Welcome To The Pleasuredome

Rock Posters shows off original art

May 19, 2023

Wes Wilson - 1966 Ink On Poster Board - w Artist Notations
Rock Posters.com has opened up their archives and is selling some of the original art to some classic posters by Wes Wilson and Lee Conklin.

Wes Wilson Wailers poster
I love seeing original art of any kind, it gives a further look behind the curtain at the process and prowess of the creators. None of this is cheap, mind, but given these are one of a kinds it’s no surprise. I’ve included the originals alongside the posters here.

Haight Ashbury Festival - Wes Wilson - 1969
TROTAges poster
The printing plate (or one of them) was sold some years ago at auction for this too, seen here in red on metal, the poster was in purple and green inks.

TROTAges printing plate
Lee Conklin - 1969 Ink on Paper - Fillmore West
Lee Conklin poster

Posted in Art, Design, Music, Poster / flyer. | No Comments | Tags: Lee Conklin, rock posters.com, Wes Wilson

High Meadows psychedelic poster site

January 22, 2023

HM - Mainline Love, artist Unknown. 1969
Mainline Love, artist Unknown, 1969

High Meadows is a new account showcasing an incredible collection of psychedelic posters inherited from a lifelong collector who has many obscure examples I’ve never seen before. As well as prime examples of classic posters by the likes of Hapshash & The Coloured Coat there are many uncredited images including black light posters that would have been sold in head shops and Op Art designs that rarely crop up in the usual exhibitions or books. Well worth checking out on Instagram and Facebook, they’re posting new examples daily at the moment – all images and info here are taken from their site.

HM Ass Id Egg by Nick Nickolds, 1967
Ass Id Egg by Nick Nickolds, 1967

HM Cyclops by LeRoy Olson, 1971
Cyclops by LeRoy Olson, 1971

HM Electric Pig by Joe Roberts Jr, 1969
Electric Pig by Joe Roberts Jr, 1969

HM Inner Zonk, Artist Unknown, Year Unknown
Inner Zonk, Artist Unknown, Year Unknown

HM International Image by Ian Andrew Galbraith, 1967
International Image by Ian Andrew Galbraith, 1967

HM Orange Eye Circle, unknown artist 1968
Orange Eye Circle, unknown artist, 1968

HM Untitled, Asher Ein-dor, 1972
Untitled, Asher Ein-dor, 1972

HM Ziggy Stardust by Joseph Pentagno. 1972
Ziggy Stardust by Joseph Pentagno, 1972

Posted in Art, Bureau of Lost Culture, Design, Poster / flyer. | 1 Comment | Tags: High Meadows, psychedelic posters

2022

December 31, 2022January 2, 2023

The main thing I’ve been doing this year is learning new software, lots involving AI algorithms that still seem like some kind of strange magic.

It started last year with the Moises software that can split stereo sound files into individual stems which opens up all sorts of possibilities and continued with NightCafe Creator where you can create incredible images from inputting a line of descriptive text. This has yielded a huge bank of images to draw from, some that have already become record sleeve illustrations (I just didn’t tell anyone). It’s all old hat now because AI art is everywhere on the web with thousands of images flooding our feeds on a daily basis but when I first wrote these words in early 2022 it was extremely addictive, if at an infant stage in its development. Just in the last six months alone AI has taken huge leaps in definition and feels like a giant shift in the art of image-making even if still has trouble with hands, it’s certainly divided people’s opinions.
Another AI app is the Topaz suite of image enhancers, the foremost being Gigapixel AI, the best image enhancer / upscaler I’ve ever seen, this has become part of my daily usage now alongside Photoshop and Indesign as a necessary tool to clean up images along with its Denoiser and Sharpener sister apps.
I (finally) got myself an iPad so that I could learn Procreate and again, a whole new world opens up with the possibilities this incredible app gives you. I never could justify getting a tablet, but seeing one of my sons drawing on his, wanting to go digital with some of my comic-buying and having a decent surface to learn Ninja Jamm on made it a necessary piece of kit. Learning to paint on it with one of my sons was among one of my favourite moments this year.
In the analogue world another revelation was a record cutting process pioneered by Ben Soundhog at Plastidisc where software that can convert an image into a waveform then cuts that image as a playable disc. The possibilities are endless and you can make a record without even playing one note.

QMk3 set up
My own experiments with the refining of my Quadraphon turntable have made for a sleeker, more portable and adaptable design along with the fantastic 4 channel Omnitronic TRM-402 mixer and the Ninja Tune/Erica Synths Zen Delay FX unit. I can make analogue tracks via one deck on the fly and jamming with this set up can yield hours of material, a refreshing new way to make music. Also becoming an author on good old fashioned paper felt pretty good too, I think I might have the book bug now. I hope you all have a Happy New Year and a riproaring 2023…

Music:
Clocolan – Empathy Alpha LP (Redpan)
Brian Eno – The Lighthouse (Sonos HD)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum LP (Flightless)
Twilight Sequence – Trees in General: and the Larch 12″ (Castles In Space)
WTCHCRFT – Drugs Here 12″ (Balkan Vinyl)
Ghost Power – Ghost Power LP (Duophonic Super 45s)
Dexorcist – Night Watch 12″ (Yellow Machines)
Project Gemini – The Children Of Scorpio LP (Mr Bongo/Garden’s End)
Regal Worm – Worm! LP (Quatermass)
The Advisory Circle – Full Circle LP (Ghost Box)
Fenella – The Metallic Index (Fire Records)
S’Express & Daddy Squad – Music 4 The Mind DL

Podcasts:
The Bureau of Lost Culture (Soho Radio)
Cartoonist Kayfabe (YouTube)
We Buy Records (We Made This)
The Jonny Trunk Podcast (Patreon)
Oh God, What Now? (Podmasters Prod.)
The Tone Generation – Ian Helliwell
Peel Acres – Tom Ravenscroft (BBC Sounds)
The Bunker (Podmasters Prod.)

Gigs / Events:
Lux @ 180 Strand, London
Victor Vasarely – Universe exhibition @ Selfridges, London
Premier of Who Killed The KLF? @ Leake St, London
The Orb play U.F.Orb @ The Fox & Firkin, London
Bring The Paint festival, Leicester
Staying in a restored Futuro House, Somerset
Fogfest @ Iklectik, London
Glissando Guitar Orchestra @ Club-85, Hitchin
Funki Porcini’s Lasarium @ Iklectik, London
Wheels of Light launch event @ Raven Row, London
The Trunk Groovy Record Fayre @ Mildmay Club, London
At Home With The Boyle Family film launch @ Iklectik, London
Magnetic Flow exhibition, @ LaVallée, Brussels

Design / Packaging:
Night Cafe / Midjourney – the most fun/frustrating web AI creation tools
Jed St. Christopher – The Further Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 10″ lathe cut (Buried Treasure) by Nick Taylor
Twilight Sequence – Trees in General: and the Larch 12″ (Castles In Space) by Zeke Clough
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Ominium Gatherum LP by Jason Galea
Sculpture – Malculus / Photo Synth 7″ + zoetrope pack by Rueben Sutherland
The Advisory Circle – Full Circle LP (Ghost Box) by Julian House
Clay Pipe Mini Pipe 3″ CD series by Francis Castle
Monochrome Echo – The City & The Stars LP (Castles In Space) by Nick Taylor
Drumetrics – Phuzzle 10″

Artists incorporating AI into their work:
Ko_Computer
Douggy Pledger
Alex Klim
Will Toulan
Scott Wetterschneider
Stuart Smith
Steve Scott (image below by Steve Scott)

Books comics 2022

Books / Magazines / Comics:
Grrrl Scouts – Jim Mahfood (Image)
99 Balls Pond Road – Jill Drower (Scrudge Books) – now reprinted in text-only paperback and retitled ‘The Exploding Galaxy: Performance Art, LSD and Bent Coppers in the Sixties Counterculture’ – an absolute must for 60s counter culture historians
Radio Spaceman – Mike Mignola & Greg Hinkle (Dark Horse)
Mental Hygiene – Kate Gibb
A-Z of Record Shop Bags – Jonny Trunk (Fuel)
Mud Sharks – Dave Barbarossa
Good Pop, Bad Pop – Jarvis Cocker (Vintage)
House Music – Andy Votel (The Modernist)
Judge Dredd – Brian Bolland (Apex Edition)
Contemporary Collage magazine (digital)
Defying Gravity – Jordan Mooney w. Cathi Unsworth
The Delaware Road deluxe edition – Alan Gubby, Dolly Dolly (Buried Treasure)
69 Exhibition Road – Dorothy Max Prior (Strange Attractor)
Judge Dredd – Mike McMahon (Apex Edition)
It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Universe – Zoe Thorogood (Image Comics)
The Black Locomotive – Rian Hughes (Picador)

Film /TV:
The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+)
Get Back (Disney+)
Who Killed The KLF?
Pistol (Disney+)
The Boys (Amazon Prime)
In The Court of the Crimson King (Toby Aimes)

2022 Efforts2

Another year over and what have I done?
Finished The Real Tuesday Weld’s ‘Dreams’ LP/CD and ‘Late Night Reveries’ cassette artwork
Appeared on the Bureau of Lost Culture podcast, 45 Live show, mixed an episode of new online show, Genius & Soul (still not broadcast)
Re-designed an old classic logo for The Herbsmen
Adapted The Designers Republic’s Humanoid artwork for a FSOLDigital CD release
Designed Hawksmoor’s ‘Head Coach’ CD for Spun Out Of Control
Recorded with Dave Barbarossa for a future music project
Finished and published the Wheels of Light book for Four Corners Books with press coverage from The Quietus, Shindig!, The Observer, Velocity Books, Moonbuilding, Electronic Sound, Creative Review and more.
Had a track featured on the Diary of a Madman compilation on Bibliotapes in aid of Ukrainian Red Cross
Refined my Quadraphon turntable into a Mk.3 version
Got featured in the 2000AD Summer Special, music edition, talking about my love of the comic
Made a record by etching a playable image into a disc
Compiled, remixed and edited 30 years worth of games footage for DICE’s anniversary, making an 11 minute version then condensing it into 90 seconds.
Redesigned The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘Every Day’ LP for the 20th anniversary edition from original design concepts
Designed Stasis, AsOne, Paul ‘Damage’ Bailey and Humanoid 12″s and reinterpreted Mike Dred’s ‘OverMind’ LP art for De:tuned
Also designed the AsOne2 LP for De:tuned
Had a collage featured in Contemporary Collage magazine
Mixed a new religious-themed set for the Tales To Enlighten 2 Kickstarter
Reformatted Dave Barbarossa’s Mud Sharks book for publication.
Interviewed Zoe Lucky Cat Baxter, Andy Votel, Alex Paterson and DJ Format for Dust & Grooves book 2.
Designed The Real Tuesday Weld’s 3″ CD Xmas card.

RIP:
Sidney Poitier, James Mtume, Meatloaf, Barry Cryer, Ian Kennedy, Douglas Trumbull, Bamber Gascoigne, Betty Davis, Jan Pieńkowski, Philip Jeck, Chantal Passamonte, Garry Leach, June Brown, Jordan, David McKee, Klaus Schulze, Neal Adams, George Perez, Vangelis, Rat Records, Alan Grant, Bob Rafelson, Bernard Cribbens, Olivia Newton-John, Lamont Dozier, Raymond Briggs, Queen Elizabeth II, William Klein, Jean-Luc Godard, Ramsey Lewis, Pharoah Sanders, Kim Jung Gi, Robbie Coltrane, Joyce Sims, Keith Levene, Nik Turner, Wilco Johnson, Tom Philips, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Manuel Gottsching, Terry Hall, Martin Duffy, Mike Hodges, Pelé, Vivienne Westwood, Anita Pointer.

Looking forward to:
The Out in 2000AD
Supporting the Art of Noise at the Jazz Cafe on Jan 4th/5th
Conform to Deform – The Weird & Wonderful World of Some Bizarre – Wesley Doyle (Jawbone Press)
The The – 1$ One Vote 7″ (Lazarus)
The conclusion of The Real Tuesday Weld’s Swan Songs trilogy?…
Tales To Enlighten: The New Testament
The Kevin O’Neill Apex Edition (Rebellion)
The return of Rave Wars
Spider-Man – Across The Spider-Verse

Posted in Art, Books, Comics, Design, Event, Film, Gigs, Music, Openmind designs, Records. | No Comments | Tags: 2022

Unpublished Simon Bisley ABC Warriors artwork

December 28, 2022

Bisley ABC Warriors test 3
Bisley ABC Warriors test 2

Three unpublished pages by Simon Bisley have surfaced on Heritage Auctions, from his first work for 2000 AD – ABC Warriors in 1988 – the one that made his name. From the Heritage site: Inscribed “For Pat Mills” “ABC Warriors” “Simon Bisley’s effort” along the left side margin, it is thought that these pages were a first attempt at the story “The Black Hole”. Although it is unknown exactly what chapter this would have been intended for, Panel 4 suggested the first page of Part 2 from Issue #556. It was created in ink over graphite with white paint highlights on oversized Bristol board. It has an image area of 15.5″ x 18.5″. The board has horizontal creases from being rolled at some point.

Bisley ABC Warriors test
This isn’t the first time that prelim work for the strip has surfaced, several other pages exist and show a still-developing artist finding his feet, as he was doing with the story when it was published.

Bisley ABC Warriors tryout spread

If you read the ABC Warriors story that Bisley debuted on (The Black Hole, that he shared artwork duties with SMS on) you can see a huge progression from the beginning to end as well as his early attempts at painted cover and pin up art. After this of course he went on to paint the Slaine saga, The Horned God, and his place in comic legend was cemented as other artists fell over themselves to copy his style with varying degrees of success.

Posted in Art, Comics. | No Comments | Tags: 2000ad, ABC Warriors, Simon Bisley

Feedback for Wheels of Light

December 12, 2022

We’ve been getting some great feedback from some very big hitters in the light show world for my book. If you don’t recognise some of the names above, that’s OK, this is a light show community-heavy list. Bill Ham practically invented the psychedelic light show in SF in 1965, Joshua White wasn’t far behind and lit the Filmore East in NYC. Ben Marks runs the Rock Poster Society and his review of the book was the most in-depth yet. Steve Pavlovsky of Liquid Light Lab is one of the new generation of light show practitioners who are keeping the old school flame alive in NYC with an excellent YouTube channel. The others are noted light show pioneers or light jockeys, aside from of course, Paul Gorman, who has written many books on different aspects of pop culture including The Wild World of Barney Bubbles which has just been republished.

If you want to grab a copy for a friend or family member over Xmas you can either get it direct from Four Corners Books or check out these stores who should have it.
London
Book Art Bookshop / Cafe Oto / Donlon Books / ICA Bookshop / Iklectic / Koenig Books Serpentine / Koenig Books Whitechapel Gallery / Rough Trade / South London Gallery / Tate Modern TERRACE SHOP / Tender Books

UK/ROI:
Bookbag / Magalleria, Bath / Rova Editions, Bristol / Colours May Vary, Leeds / UNITOM, Manchester / Left for Dead, Shrewsbury / Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin

Online:
Am*z*n (although please support indie book shops first) / Book Depository / Counter Print / Guardian Bookshop

There have also been features in Shindig!, The Observer, Moonbuilding, reviews in Creative Review and Electronic Sound with a few more yet to come.

Posted in Art, Books. | No Comments | Tags: Four Corner Books, Wheels of Light

More fantasy film mash ups via AI

November 25, 2022November 28, 2022

Furthermore to the fantasy film collaborations in the Tron / Jodorowsky post, here’s some more. “On the set of 1984 secret collaboration movie between Jim Henson Studios and HR Giger“ by Bruno Samper – many more on his Facebook. It’s funny to see some people getting really het up about the fact that people aren’t stating that this isn’t real and even more people are falling for it and thinking it is.

Douggy Pledger has been doing incredible work for the last year now and has really turned out some hilariously disturbing work including a book called ‘To Hell With AI‘. Here’s his take on a 1920’s version of the Star Wars saga, ‘Start War’ and it’s lashed together sequel, ‘Stop Wars’.

Posted in Art, Design, Film. | No Comments | Tags: HR Giger, Jim Henson, Midjourney

Fantasy Jodorowsky Tron visualisations by Johnny Darrell

November 25, 2022

There seems to be a current trend in AI circles of mashing up film genres or visualising existent films either within different time periods or with different directors.
Johnny Darrell has imagined both Tron films as visualised and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky using the AI app Midjourney. These are all created by the AI app via prompts with only the typography on the posters being added later via Photoshop (AI still isn’t great at letter forms but is getting better all the time). These are only a sampling of the images he’s created, loads more on his Facebook page.

Posted in Art, Design, Film. | 18 Comments | Tags: Jodorowsky, Johnny Darrell, Midjourney, Tron

Victor Moscoso’s Zap Comix no.4 original art

November 22, 2022

I ran across this online last week, Victor Moscoso‘s original art for the front and back cover of Zap Comix #4. Fascinating to see the paste-ons and white outs but also how perfect his line work is. Click and click again to zoom in.

Posted in Art, Comics. | No Comments | Tags: Victor Moscoso, Zap comix

AI-generated comics, Dave McKean and Carson Grubaugh

July 28, 2022

“A few weeks ago having digested the implications of image creation AI, I decided I could either retire or respond. Here’s my response; a 96-page book of graphic shorts stories created in 12 days. Available at the end of July.” ~ Dave McKean

I’ve been very interested in, and using, AI-generated images since the turn of the year although I’ve not made a big deal out of it or posted much of the work in the way you’ll be seeing it on social media. It’s a fascinating and extremely powerful way of image creating which throws up all sorts of questions of ownership, copyright infringement and such. It’s a huge deal that will see an obvious visual shift across various mediums and another tool in the box of many creatives.
Rian Hughes and I have been trading thoughts and images on this back and forth and he highlighted another comic that purports to be the first of its kind with imagery generated entirely by AI algorithm by Carson Grubaugh. A four issue book due for release in October this year, ‘Abolition of Man’ was generated by lines taken from the C.S.Lewis book of the same name. It looks like it’s set to be beaten to the punch by McKean and, ironically, many of the images inside bear a strong resemblance to his regular non-AI-generated work.

Posted in Art, Comics, Design, Robots. | No Comments | Tags: AI, Dave KcKean

Oddities: John McColl’s ‘Klapa II’ mural, Glasgow, 1974

July 11, 2022

I discovered this mural by Scottish artist John McColl in a book – Painting The Town by Cooper & Sargant – last week. Researching John and any more of his work reveals scant info, he appears to have been part of the Glasgow League of Artists co-operative in the 70s and this image is possibly enlarged from a canvas. It was part of four works commissioned by the Scottish Arts Council for the Gables End Mural scheme in the city, the others being ‘Hex’ by Stanley Bell, ‘Celtic Knot’ by James Torrance and ‘Boy on Dog Back’ by John Byrne.
‘Klapa II’ though is something else, I’d love to see the original and any more work from this period by McColl but there’s nothing out there it seems. Anyone with any more info please let me know.

A black and white version of the bottom image, taken from the book, ‘Cultural Devolution – Art in Britain in the late 20th century’

The mural featured in Eric Watt‘s ‘Coming Into View’ book of photos of Glasgow.

A few images of Stanley Bell’s ‘Hex’ (two versions it seems) are here
and more info on UK murals at the amazing For Wall With Tongues website.

Posted in Art, Oddities. | 1 Comment | Tags: Glasgow, John McColl, Klapa II, mural

Record Mirror illustrated covers

June 26, 2022

I’m mildly fascinated by these rock illustrations from Record Mirror magazines circa 1978-1981 when artists were asked to interpret pop idols of the day for covers and the odd poster. This was back when Record Mirror was a newspaper of the same size as NME, Melody Maker and Sounds before downsizing to magazine format.

They LOVED Blondie, she was constantly on the cover, probably because a beautiful woman sold copies. Not sure what to make of the suggestive poster at the top!

Ivor Sexton, Alan Alder, David Street, Bob Zammarchi, Bush Hollyhead, Peter Watson, Mark (Zodiac Mindwarp) Manning, Conny Jude, Chris Chaisty, Chris Preistley and Graham Stevens are just some of the names I can see credited, some are familiar, some not.

There was a trend for this kind of caricature around this time with a whole raft of posters released in similar styles (one of which – the Siouxsie centre spread – is featured here). I’ve posted about them before and there’s more to come…

Posted in Art, Magazines, Music. | No Comments | Tags: Record Mirror

Garry Leach RIP

March 30, 2022

Another amazing artist gone, RIP Garry Leach, loved his VCs artwork in 2000AD as well as his Zirk and Miracleman for Warrior, hugely underrated and a lovely guy the couple of times our paths crossed.

Posted in 2000ad, Art, Comics. | No Comments |

Mira Calix tribute by David Vallade

March 29, 2022

A beautiful tribute to Chantal Passamonte by David Vallade who we shared a house with in the 90s and who went on to illustrate several of her record covers. David says: “Hearing the news @warprecords I revisited something I drew back in 2012 for my dear friend @miracalix_ inspired by an evening we spent together with friends at the opening of her installation ‘Nothing Is Set In Stone’. Her spirit will forever resonate within me forever.”

I was reminded yesterday of something we put on the ‘Blechsdottir’ mix album PC and I did on Warp back in the 90’s. We’d got one of the Mira Calix releases late and were finding it hard to fit a track on but wanted to include her. I found a vocal line from ‘Humba’ of her simply saying, ‘do the things they say you cannot do’ looping over and over and flew it over an LFO track. It became one of my favourite moments in the mix and, in hindsight, sums up her outlook on life.

Posted in Art, Event, Music. | No Comments | Tags: Chantal Passamonte, david vallade, Mira Calix, warp records

The Exploding Galaxy at the Bureau of Lost Culture

March 29, 2022March 30, 2022

At Xmas I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Jill Drower‘s ’99 Balls Pond Road’ book which is a weighty tome that had been expensive and hard to come by for some time. I devoured it over the holiday and into the new year before deciding that I had to contact Jill and invite her to Stephen Coates‘ Bureau of Lost Culture podcast. Her story of the performance art collective who were part of the first wave of kinetic art and the psychedelic underground in the 60s whilst squatting at the Dalston address of the title is an eye opener.

Finally tracking her down, she kindly agreed to come in and tell her story, a rare female voice in a sea of men who have so far largely written the history of the movement. She doesn’t pull her punches on the inequality of women, the class structure of the underground and the collusion between police and gutter press in suppressing their happenings and invasion of the home.

There are two versions of the book; the original, large format, picture-heavy coffee table book entitled ’99 Balls Pond Road’ which will cost a bit more but is worth every penny. Or the new paperback-sized, picture-light, more affordable version entitled ‘The Exploding Galaxy – Performance Art, LSD and Bent Copper in the Sixties Counterculture’, which is a mouthful but sums up the contents far better than the original title.

Posted in Art, Books, Bureau of Lost Culture, Mixes / Podcast. | No Comments | Tags: the bureau of lost culture, The exploding galaxy

Howard The Duck graffiti originals

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022

Reading some original Howard The Duck comics the other day I came across the original sources for classic NYC graffiti pieces that have been embedded in my brain since seeing the Subway Art / Spraycan Art books back in the 80’s. The Seen / PJay wholecar piece above is probably the first train I ever saw painted as it was part of a magazine review for the book I discovered on holiday in the summer of 1984. This led me to trying to draw my own designs and eventually seek out the book for the bigger picture. I’d never seen lettering like this but was immediately drawn to it and wanted to know more, from then on I wrote graffiti for the rest of the 80s, only stopping when I moved to London in 1990.

The duck on the right seems to be taken from the panel below on the left from issue 2 of the original 1977 run of Howard The Duck, later adapted with added cigar for the top left corner on certain covers. The hat is missing on the train version, possibly due to space, it’s not an exact copy but this is the nearest image I can find and you try painting something 8 ft high in the dark whilst hanging off a train in the freezing cold and getting it spot on. Seen was a master of characters, using many Marvel, DC, Disney and underground comic creations like Cheech Wizard in his pieces.

The duck on the left of the car is much closer to the original source and obviously comes from the cover of the Marvel Team Up issue of Spiderman and Howard seen below. Seen recently underwent heart surgery and is currently resting until given the all clear to go back to painting, something he seems to do 24/7, regularly selling canvases and prints out in minutes. I very much hope he makes it through and can carry on where he left off, he’s one of the greats and hugely influential, one of the Godfathers of the whole graffiti scene.

Another classic featuring Howard was by Lee Quinones and covered a whole basketball court in 1980 with the original being swiped from the cover of HTD #20.

Posted in Art, Comics. | No Comments | Tags: howard the duck, Lee Quinones, pjay, seen

All change for tonight at BSMT Space

March 10, 2022

Dear friends, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but the Covid curse has finally struck – and at the worst time possible too.
After evading the bugger for 2 years I tested positive yesterday, the day before tonight’s opening BSMT Space for EPOD‘s first solo show of new work. I was supposed to be there and this has put months of work and prep out the window. Be vigilant, we’re not through this yet, no matter what our government tells us.

But it’s not all bad news though as my man Ollie Teeba has gamely stepped up to bat at the 11th hour with his box of 45s and two turntables for your delectation tonight. I’m sure he needs little introduction but having hands in The Herbaliser, The Process and Soundsci as well as a solo artist and DJ in his own right is nothing to scoff at – he’ll do us all proud.

So – the show must go on, get down to BSMT tonight between 6-9pm, there will be excellent art, great music and free beers supplied by Vedett. Maybe even snag one of the limited slipmats or prints being sold on the night?

I’ll be there in spirit and hopefully we can do something once I’m out of isolation.

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Event, Gigs, Music, Poster / flyer. | 1 Comment | Tags: BSMT space, EPOD, Ollie Teeba

EPOD solo show opening at BSMT Space this Thursday

March 8, 2022March 8, 2022

This Thursday – March 10th – .EPOD‘s first solo show opens at BSMT Space in Dalston. EPOD has made a pair of slipmats in five different colourways which will be on sale on the night and exclusively through the gallery. There will also be prints and new canvases plus beers by the Vedett brewery.

I’ll be providing the music on the opening night from 6pm-9pm via my Quadraphon turntable with the currently unreleased Omnitronic TRM-422 mixer and the Ninja Tune Zen Delay, creating music live with locked grooves and up to four tone arms.
RSVP to [email protected] for entry to the private view on Thursday.

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Event, Gigs, Ninja Tune, Poster / flyer. | No Comments | Tags: BSMT space, EPOD, Omnitronic, Zen Delay

DOPE. a solo show by .EPOD at BSMT

February 24, 2022

March 10th – 27th .EPOD presents his first solo show – DOPE. – at BSMT

DOPE will feature .EPOD’s largest works to date, the new canvases will be threaded together within the gallery space in both concept and design. Limited edition prints and collectible slipmats will also be featured as part of the show.

Private view 6-9pm March 10th

I’ll be performing on the opening night using my customised Quadraphon turntable, a brand new, unreleased 4 channel Omnitronic TRM mixer and the Ninja Tune Zen Delay.

RSVP essential: [email protected] for entry to the private view
BSMT 529 Kingsland Rd, London, E8 4AR
Sponsored by Vedett beer.

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Event, Film, Music. | No Comments | Tags: BSMT, DJ Food, DOPE, EPOD, Ninja Tune, Omnitronic, Zen Delay

Punch covers by Geoffrey Dickinson

February 23, 2022February 28, 2024

I was alerted to the Punch cover above by the excellent Instagram account ephemeramablog and it sent me down a rabbit hole to find more. Geoffrey Dickinson did a fair bit of work for Punch over the years as far as I can ascertain as well as numerous other magazines. From the blog:
“Geoffrey Dickinson (1933-1988) created these two cover illustrations for Punch magazine. Born in Liverpool, Dickinson studied at the Royal Academy Schools with the intention of becoming a landscape painter. He became a teacher while also freelancing, producing graphics and animations for BBC TV. Dickinson began contributing to Punch in 1963 and produced numerous covers. He took the position of Deputy Art Editor at Punch while continuing to freelance, working for Reader’s Digest, Which?, Esquire, Highlife, Hallmark Cards and more. In 1966, he also created the notable “Swinging Sixties” cover for Time Magazine. In 1984, Dickinson left Punch and joined the Financial Times, producing a daily pocket cartoon and illustrations for the weekend supplement.“

Posted in Art, Bureau of Lost Culture, Magazines. | 3 Comments | Tags: Geoffrey Dickinson, Punch magazine