Moebius: ‘Quatre-vingt huit’ book

I stumbled upon this today whilst surfing the net for something else. It’s a book of ‘personal work’ by Moebius, forms and shapes that have no purpose other than for him to express himself in a non-work context. Similar to the method Henry Flint used in his ‘Broadcast’ book – of letting his mind go and just drawing to see what came out – these were collected into a book named ‘Quatre-vingt huit’ (’88) in 1990.

Not all the images are this finished but these are some of my favourites, that he could produce work like this in his spare time is incredible. Apparently it’s now quite a rare book but a quick search will net you a digital copy, hopefully someone will reprint it now that he’s gone.

Posted in Art, Books, Comics. | 1 Comment |

Around Montreal last week

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog this past week as I’ve been away in Montreal doing the ‘Search Engine’ shows at the SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques), I fly back to the UK this evening so I’d like to share what I’ve seen and done all week. It’s three posts until the 1000th entry so I’ll set the scene before the big 1k reveal. First off, I’m sure anyone who’s visited Montreal will know that it’s a city full of great street art and unique architecture, once hosting Expo 67 (the Buckminster Fuller dome is still there if not in its former glory).

The view above was taken from the 15th floor of the CBC building (Canadian Broadcasting Company) where I was doing a mix for a late night show, Bande a Part, the Fuller dome is just out of shot on the righ. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to make it over to the old site but I’ll be back and then it’s top of the list. It’s impossible to walk around though without being confronted by huge murals, graffiti pieces or interesting signage, the best of which I’ve put in the small gallery here.

Pat Hamou, an old friend who worked for Ninja Tune North America and was responsible for suggesting this whole project to the SAT, had curated an exhibition of screen printed gig posters called Music On Paper which was held in the crypt gallery of a church. It’s just finished but there were some great posters on display including the one he designed for my gig.
The next two posts are quite content-heavy so I might not get time to post them before I leave, more when I return to the UK…

Posted in Art, Event, Poster / flyer. | 1 Comment |

Jim Mahfood

Always enjoy Jim Mahfood‘s work, very much looking forward to his take on Tank Girl this summer. He also has a new book out collecting his online adventures as a working artist, Los Angeles Ink Stains. He has a print out to go with it too as well as toys, T-shirts and more. Go here

Posted in Art, Books, Comics. | No Comments |

Vintage kids magazines from Italy

Steve Cook and I went on a scavenge for old magazines on my birthday earlier this year and, whilst in a well known West London basement, Steve found dozens of kids magazines from the 60’s and 70’s.

I’ve only had time to scan a few pieces but they are riddled with beautiful illustrations and typography from back in the day, check the Mini 22 logo on the toy gun ad for instance (there’s a telling amount of adverts for toy guns in each issue). Absolutely LOVE the robot cover and spread, which Steve graciously gave up for me from the pile, see also the ad for a vintage Lego train set.

These scans are primarly from an Italian mag called Corriere dei Piccoli (Italian for “Courier of the Little Ones”) and Steve has some from French ‘Lissette’ over on his Secret Oranges blog today. There’s plenty more from both mags to come from both of us so stay tuned and click images for larger versions.

Posted in Art, Design, Magazines. | No Comments |

Nuclear Dawn mural restoration project

Here’s the Nuclear Dawn mural in Brixton as it was when it was first painted. Anyone who has ever traveled into Brixton on Coldharbour Lane from the East will have seen this, it’s been there since the early 80’s apparently and was painted by Brian Barnes and Dale McCrea.

30 years of wear and tear have not been kind to the image, especially the lower half which is partly covered with bushes and graffiti not to mention the condition of the paint in general. But there is a movement underway to try and restore the mural to its former glory on Facebook – please have a look, ‘like’ the page and see if you can help.

Posted in Art. | No Comments |

Moebius mural, Shoreditch, London

An amazing, but very hard to photograph, mural dedicated to Moebius that wraps round three sides of a building in Shoreditch, London. Featuring many scenes and images he created in his lifetime and also a little MCA dedication too, I tried my best to join the images together fluidly but had to take some of these standing in the middle of the road. UPDATE: The mural was painted by JimVision / Probs over 9 days, check some much better photos over at the End of the Line blog.

 

Posted in Art, Comics. | 1 Comment |

Damien Hirst’s Butterfly mandalas

I finally got to the Tate Modern to see the Damien Hirst exhibition yesterday and his butterfly ‘paintings’ are stunning. Kaleidoscopic, geometric mandalas, some of which glow like stained glass windows, they are quite breathtaking to behold. I’m no particular Hirst fan, I can take or (usually) leave him but occasionally he comes up with a winner and this is definitely one of them.

Posted in Art. | 11 Comments |

Op art 3D graffiti by Made514


I came across these on Facebook the other day, does anyone recognise the artist? I think it’s all the same person judging by the tags I can see but I’m not certain. My first thought was that it was Replete but I’m not sure.

UPDATE: This is the guy who did these – Made514 – plus a whole lot more, check out his site here.

My brain hurts.

Posted in Art. | 2 Comments |

Flint & Food at Factory Road

So much to say about the last few days and the opening of the DJ Food & Henry Flint exhibition at the Factory Road Gallery in Hinckley, Leicester with my friends Sarah (aka Inkymole) and Leigh. I’ve known them for around 15 years now and always enjoy their company so it was a no-brainer when they asked if they could host the work I’d got together for the Pure Evil Gallery earlier this year. What’s unique about this is that the gallery is in their own home, on the corner of a quiet suburban street, not in the middle of a hip part of a big city. A few years ago they did some major architectural restructuring and turned the downstairs of their home into a workspace cum gallery, dependent on what was on at the time. This is the third or fourth exhibition to be held there and, with the help of their intern, Brook, and amazing chef Jed Smith, they managed to make it a very unique event.

The difference between this and the Pure Evil show is that they were keen to feature a sort of retrospective element of my design work with Ninja Tune over the years alongside work that Henry and I had generated for ‘The Search Engine’ album, his book ‘Broadcast’ and past comic work. This took the form of a whole wall running the length of the downstairs plus a tabletop collage under glass of all manner of flyers, sleeves, proofs and other ephemera. Two sides of the central supporting wall were taken up with Henry’s past comic work with prints and original art from the album near the entrance. Near the rear of the gallery we set up a turntable and zoetrope disc to project animations that were also meant for London but didn’t happen as well as a 55 minute mix with visuals based on my planetarium show of the same time.

To add to this Sarah and Leigh always do special merchandise to go with each show, a regular item being a tea towel – or rather a visor / helmet polishing cloth (ooer) – printed locally and hemmed by Sarah’s mum. Also for sale was a limited edition ‘Skullstronaut’ giclee print and locally sourced chocolate bars, cleverly playing on the outer space theme and packaged like freeze-dried astronaut food.

Speaking of food, the killer addition of the night was Jed Smith in the kitchen, whipping up amazing bite-sized, space-themed eats for everyone. The cubed chips, baked pea shells and sauce were the hit of the night, a bowl of ‘space dust’ (homemade sherbert) looked like a moon surface and the dried rice and beetroot dip was literally out of this world (sorry). Everyone who came looked uncertainly at it all, took the plunge and were instantly in for seconds.

It’s rare to attend an opening and to ask the guests if they’ve been to the toilet yet (unless it’s for some sort of nose up) but the bathroom had it’s own charm in the form of Will Cooper-Mitchell’s press shots of me in an astronaut suit, alongside a hand-painted shuttle (by Sarah’s sister, close family ties going on here) and a short musical loop of space-themed sounds.

This, alongside a big barrel of local ale for refreshments, rounded the whole event off beautifully and added to the homely vibe of the exhibition. A steady stream of visitors arrived, both local and from further afield from 6pm until midnight and I talked to everyone from fans to friends, university professors to the local record store owner. Having been there since Thursday afternoon setting up and rearranging things I was beat by then and we had an early start the next morning but that’s another story.

Thank you so much to everyone who came but especially Sarah, Leigh, Jed, Brook and everyone who helped to make it such a success, some of the photos here are by their friend, Nigel, who was also the architect who helped them build the gallery. We realised, once it was all hung and arranged, that we’d fitted in twice the content than in London, in a smaller space too so there’s twice the reason to go and have a look. The show is at 71 Factory Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, it’s free and on until June 15th, all merchandise is on sale on the Factory Road Shop now.

Factory Road Gallery goodies #2 – Skullstronaut print

Here’s the ‘Skullstronaut’ print, specially made for Friday’s exhibition opening at the Factory Road Gallery, Hinckley, Leicestershire. Taken from the cover of the recent DJ Food vs The Amorphous Androgynous 12″ single and measuring a hefty 55cm x 55cm this giclée print on Somerset Rag paper will set you back just £25 at the show. It’s an edition of 25 and will be signed by myself, any unsold stock will be on the Factory Road shop once the exhibition has finished.

Factory Road Gallery goodies

Only 3 days to go until the DJ Food & Henry Flint show reopens, revitalised at the Factory Road Gallery in Hinckley. I sent a last load of sleeves, posters, flyers and other assorted memorabilia off for it today and there will be more of Henry’s old 2000ad artwork than we had in London, different pages too – all from my personal collection.

Also on sale there will be these space-themed chocolate bars in requisite silver foil packaging featuring the ‘skullstronaut’. There’ll be more exclusive merch on sale but I’ll post about that later. Sarah and Leigh, who run the gallery from their home, really take care and go to extra lengths to make bespoke items for their shows so that each one is a unique experience. I’m so pleased to be doing something with them after knowing them for over 15 years.