Whilst researching the Dreaming with Stanley Kubrick exhibition last week I dug into the iconography of A Clockwork Orange, looking up David Pellam‘s classic Droog design for Penguin (above) first revealed several earlier book covers and then the tidal wave of fan film posters. Cogs, eyes, eye lashes, milk glasses and, of course, the colour orange were in abundance. There were several great ones that managed to capture both the era and the menace of the film as well at a very nice Gorillaz droog wallpaper by Jamie Hewlett.
Poster / flyer
The Daydreaming With Stanley Kubrick exhibition started a few weeks back at Somerset House in London’s West End and it’s well worth a look. Curated by James Lavelle, it features many familiar names that hint that his phone book must be a thing to behold. Artists, film makers and musicians from around the world have contributed but with over 40 pieces to look at there’s always going to be some stronger than others.
For the most part, I enjoyed the more literal, graphic interpretations; the hexagon-patterned floor from The Shining, Space Invader‘s Rubix-cubed Alex from A Clockwork Orange and Doug Foster’s homage to the stargate scene in 2001, ‘Beyond The Infinite’ – a mesmerising widescreen kaleidoscope that constantly shifted to a soundtrack by UNKLE. I was surprised there wasn’t more reference to Hal from 2001 outside of some of the graphics for the exhibition branding though and there was a missed opportunity to do something with Kubrick toys seeing as James has had an affinity with them for so long.
One of my favourite pieces was Philip Castle‘s 70s airbrushed illustration for the original film of Alex with dentures in a glass. Unfortunately this was represented as a slide blown up rather than the original painting but it still had enough presence, menace and period textured beauty to outshine most of the other exhibits.
Elsewhere, several installation pieces were the most successful in invoking Stanley’s spirit. A vertical pulsing strip of LED lights by Chris Levine burned images onto the retina from the end of a corridor so that, when you looked away, you saw split second flashes of Kubrick’s face. A ‘breathing’ camera by Nancy Fouts, sat eerily in another corner, rasping in and out to itself. A room of 114 wireless’ all tuned to the same channel in a dimly-lit workshop created a WWII-like atmosphere and the exhibition guide revealed that a huge cast of celebs had made the soundtrack playing through the tinny speakers. Peter Kennard‘s ant-war collages were further bolstered by additions from Dr. Strangelove although it felt largely transplanted from his recent Imperial War Museum exhibit with some added Kubrickisms.
Possibly equal to Foster’s AV piece was Toby Dye‘s small room showing four different scenes from The Corridor, each one using a Kubrick technique of focus pulling in or out of a centralised corridor. This, when shown full frame on each of the four walls, gave the viewer a sense of unease or vertigo as the walls appeared to shift around them. Very effective if off-balancing. David Pellam‘s classic Droog design featured twice, once in the show branding and once in Paul Insect‘s updating of his work, ‘Clockwork Britain’. An iconic design, connected with Kubrick by the simplification of his visualisation for the Droogs, it sits alongside the Shining carpet as a graphic motif instantly connected to his films. A VR headset with interior 2001 space station scenario was also installed but the queue was just too long so don’t head to it at peak weekend hours if possible.
I just got my beautiful Altered States print from Glass Siren Studios framed – what do I see in the inbox this morning? 50% off sale until the end of July. His prints are already a steal at £75 and under but this is just too good to pass up. Photos can’t do these prints justice IMO, use the code below when ordering from www.glasssiren.co.uk
I’m really liking that there seem to be a lot of grass-roots level nights popping up that cater for the more esoteric tastes in music at the moment. Shindig! magazine start a new one in North London at the end of the month – good luck guys but points deducted for taking someone else’s artwork for the flyer.
This amazing late 70s Hunt Emerson poster is on eBay right now with less than 2 days to go, never seen it before, probably never will again.
Today, 2 hrs before The Orb‘s Alex Paterson starts his new Cake Lab residency at the Book and Record Bar in W. Norwood, I’ll be on the Out of the Wood Show hosted by WNBC.LONDON https://m.facebook.com/outofthewoodradioshow/ after which….
“From 2pm a new Sunday ambient club called Cake Lab launches. Dr. Alex Paterson and George Holt take you back to the good old days of the Ambient Club Room, circa 1987 with a free Sunday afternoon club… Expect an eclectic mix of Electronica, Dub, World, Jazz, Dance and every genre in between… and there will be cake.. and coffee and tea, and beer and cider and wine and spirits….”
The Cake Lab set up Alex & George brought along was amazing; delicious cakes, crazy decor, T-shirts and most of all, great music. Pete W, Hannah Brown and I were playing on the Out Of The Wood show beforehand. Photos by Pete and Hannah from across the afternoon. In fact the whole of FEAST in West Norwood is really worth checking out, food, drink, retro goods, craft stalls, sound systems and live bands, first weekend of every month.
I just received this gorgeous screen print from Glass Siren Studios – check out their site for more amazing designs – not sure how many colours this is but it’s a work of art.
Coming at the end of August from Ghost Box – reminds me of the 60s sci-fi Penguin covers of Franco Grignani
Just a quick reminder; Jonny Trunk and I, this Saturday, Rat Records, Camberwell, London, SE5, 1.30 onwards…. FREE!
Two dates for your diaries: June 25th I’ll be DJing with Jonny Trunk at Camberwell’s finest used record emporium, Rat Records. They recently bought in a really good selection of soundtrack, electronic, library and weird records which we’ll be playing selections from before adding them to the racks for punters to buy. Let US try, before YOU buy.
But before that – this Saturday to be precise – I’ll be sitting in for Jonny on his OST radio show on Resonance 104.4 FM from 4.30-6.40pm. There’ll be a theme to the show and I’ll have special guest Jonny Cuba from Soundsci talking about library digs and soundtrack finds. Listen here this weekend
Several artists have produced posters for the Remain campaign, Wolfgang Tillmans, Eva Rothschild, Trevor Jackson are shown here and all can be viewed and downloaded on the Artists For IN site.
The Olivetti exhibition currently at the ICA in London is small but perfectly formed, much like its contents. Blink and you’ll miss it (tucked away in a little room under the stairs to the bar), it’s a beautiful collection of vintage typewriters and word processors supported by original posters, promo material and historical documents.
Inspired by this tiny treasure trove of gorgeous design I raided my archives of Graphis Annuals and Architecture Aujourd’hui magazines and snapped a few quick shots of Olivetti adverts contained within.
The Alan Kitching exhibition at Somerset House is fantastic, a huge collection of letterpress posters, experiments and book designs that stretch the medium to its limits. It’s only on until May 2nd so be quick, Alan is also doing live, Utopian-themed demonstrations between 12 – 3pm on Saturday 30th April and Monday 2nd May.
Whilst at the new Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House today I ran across the 3rd Rail Print House with these lovely diamond-shaped screen-prints. Part of a beer promotion campaign, they can be purchased online here
The, by now, ubiquitous Ghost Box post when they release a new record (they’re not paying me, honest). Hintermass – a collaboration between Jon Brooks and Tim Felton – just came out on LP, CD and DL and lovely it is too. Next up is an album by Belbury Poly (at last!), Jim Jupp‘s recording alias which is coming in May. Download these two posters HERE.
You’re probably sick of reading about these two characters on here – Dan Lish and Rammellzee – a perfect combination, a before and after depiction, a pair of limited, signed colour A4 prints available from Gamma Proforma now.
I saw this poster – designed by Rich Fox – for the film ‘High Rise’ on the Cube Cinema‘s twitter feed and it led me down a wormhole of other, official posters for the film.