barney bubbles at london design week 2010

process: the working practices of barney bubbles chelsea space, london on now until october 23rd, 2010

album covers designed for hawkwind (left) and the damned (right)

the working practices of graphic designer barney bubbles is presented in an exhibition at the chelsea space during london design week 2010. divided among three areas of the venue, visitors are guided through the methods by which this designer realized his creations.

the entrance displays selected ephemera: adverts, badges, music press ads, stickers etc. images courtesy of donald smith

overall the show extends over three areas of the space. in the main room there is no finished artwork, except a copy of ‘damned damned damned’ with its deliberate printing error, and an NME book of modern music, demonstrating from where bubbles was pulling his design leads at the time of production.

at the entrance, the show features never-before-seen items drawn from private collections including student notebooks, working sketches, original artwork, paintings, books and photography rest on plinths and trestles, color-schemed to a typically ‘bubbles-esque’ palette. these were the raw materials for videos, record sleeves, t-shirts and posters created by bubbles for such performers from cressida to costello, ian dury, hawkwind to the damned, from iggy pop & james williamson to red dirt. included is also the rub made in the image of a panel on the cover of ‘brewing up with billy bragg’.

main space images courtesy of donald smith

work is displayed on colorful plinths reminiscent of barney bubbles’ bold colorful style images courtesy of donald smith

other important work exhibited is a face-off conducted between elvis costello (in 1977’s warholian, 60″ x 40″ live stiffs poster) and chuck berry (in the form of the wall-mounted sculpture created by bubbles for the music publisher peter barnes) located at the end of each ramp which runs through the chelsea space.

the ramp walls display posters, sleeves and other exhibits denoting approaches, recurrent themes and areas such as art direction, color usage, application of symbols, photographic treatment, geometric arrangement, etc.

‘face off’ conducted by elvis costello and view of exhibition’s ramp space left image courtesy of donald smith

the gallery walls are lined with pen and ink artwork, PMTs (photo mechanical transfers), proofs, proposals, paste-ups, photography etc. there is also a guide to the technical aspects of producing artwork in the pre-digital age, as well as a professional CV.

a showreel of 10 videos directed by bubbles can also be viewed, which includes two that have never been shown publicly before: incendiary device and darling and let’s have another baby for johnny moped.

images courtesy of donald smith

‘process:…’ is curated by paul gorman, who is also responsible for bubbles’ monograph, ‘reasons to be cheerful: the life & work of barney bubbles’. through the exhibition gorman demonstrates who bubbles problem-solved on behalf of his clients, employing powerful symbols and an intense color sense with bright primaries, stark contrasts, strategies and interventions, such as the deliberate revelation of the printing color code on the sleeve of elvis costello’s album ‘this year’s model’ (1978).

exhibition catalog and sample spreads image courtesy of donald smith

barney bubbles monograph by paul gorman

barney bubbles (born colin fulcher, 1942 – 1983) is cited as a major influence by such contemporary practitioners as neville brody, malcolm garrett and peter saville. coinciding with london design week festivities, the exhibition includes a programme of events celebrating aspects of bubbles’ work with contributions from collaborators including musicians and photographers, as well as talks, Q&A’s and commentary on his legacy by contemporary designers and graphics authorities.