Barney Bubbles

Category: Book design

  • Experimental Jetset: ‘Barney Bubbles irreversibly shaped the subcultures that shaped him’

    ‘Barney Bubbles’ oeuvre reads like a full-circle scale-model of UK pop culture in general: a circular journey, from the sharpness of mod (A1 Good Guyz) to the fuzziness of psych (the lysergic space travels of Hawkwind), and back again to the angularity of punk (Stiff, The Damned).

    ‘As much as Bubbles was a product of those times, he also was a producer of those times – irreversibly shaping the subcultures that shaped him. He created a graphic language of objects and signs (signs as objects, objects as signs) that truly defined an era – a language that still bewitches us, decades later.’

    Experimental Jetset

    Experimental Jetset 2018: Erwin Brinkers, Danny van den Dungen, Marieke Stolk. Photo: Kotoko Koya

    Mixing post-punk sensibilities with graphic design innovation and avant-garde polemic, Amsterdam collective Experimental Jetset puts the ‘provo’ into provocation.

    Founded in the mid-90s, the trio of Erwin Brinkers, Danny van den Dungen and Marieke Stolk consistently challenge the bloodlessness of much contemporary graphic design by incorporating clashing collages, signs,  symbols and signifiers with declamatory typography and tonal audacity into their cross-media approaches.

    One of the studio’s first designs was the perforated A2 bi-weekly programme poster originally produced for the hallowed Amsterdam venue the Paradiso in 1996. The template is still in use at the Paradiso, latterly featuring the  2010 version which was the result of what EJ describes as a ‘slight redesign‘.

    Triptych of posters for group exhibition Graphic Design: Now in Production at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2011.

    Installation view (detail) of the retrospective Word-Things in Time-Space at Riot, Ghent, May–September 2016.

    EJ’s profile was raised way back in 2001 when the John & Paul & Ringo & George shirt was released through Japanese t-shirt label 2K/Gingham. This of course soon became a band t-shirt design staple.

    Offset-printed A2 poster for  the EJ-curated exhibition about Amsterdam’s radical Provo movement at the city’s W139 art space in 2011.
    From the graphic language created for New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art in 2012-13.
    Installation view of EJ’s 2023 exhibition at MACRO, Rome’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
    Statement and Counter-Statement  is the title of EJ’s 2015 monograph published by Amesterdam’s Roma Publications.
    Spread from Statement and Counter-Statement.
    Spread from Statement and Counter-Statement.

    In 2022 Experimental Jetset collaborated with Amsterdam-based streetwear label Patta on what they describe as ‘a slightly pop-situationist/mod-revivalist’ capsule collection Patta Psychogeographic Practice.

    Patta Psychogeographic Practice Converse All Stars.
    Patta Psychogeographic Practice manifesto.
    Record sleeve for Escape-ism’s 2024 album Charge of the Love Brigade, released by Radical Elite Records.

    Visit EJ online archive here and read It’s Nice That’s wide-ranging interview with Experimental Jetset where they mention Barney Bubbles here.

  • ‘He was a visionary’ Raissa Pardini on Barney Bubbles

    Photo courtesy Raissa Pardini

    Barney Bubbles wasn’t just a designer – he was a visionary. His work brought colour, dynamism and a sense of bold expression to every project. He taught me that design isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about emotion, energy and creating something that speaks to the heart.
    Raissa Pardini

    This is the first in an occasional series of contemporary practitioners providing their thoughts on the continuing relevance of the work of Barney Bubbles.
    Concert poster
    From Tuscany and based in London after sojourns in Berlin and Glasgow, Pardini’s work expresses vibrancy and wit, showcasing her considerable talents as a multi-disclipinary designer who is also a radical typographer and joyous creative director.
    Concert poster
    ‘Coming from a tiny town where nothing much ever happened, I took my first solo trip to London at 14,’ said Pardini recently. ‘I quickly learned the art of sneaking into Trash and the indie clubs, full of makeup and nerves, hoping no one would clock my age. Back in Italy, all I could think about was being involved in music. I hustled my way into a local radio station, then hit the national ones, eventually landing my own show.

    Record sleeves
    ‘I played bass with local pals in their garages, spinning records just to secure a couch to crash on after gigs—most of which I seemed to be attending alone. Getting my driver’s license was a game-changer, as it meant I no longer depended on others for rides to gigs. By then, I had built my own communities around different cities, and being part of the music scene became my lifeblood.
    Concert poster
    Magazine design

    ‘I was printing zines in my mom’s office, and that’s when I discovered my love for design too.’

    Book designs

    As her portfolio shows, Pardini’s designs are collected by the V&A and she has worked with major brands and bands from MTV and Nike to Blur and The Rolling Stones but retains a street-level engagement having DJed live and on radio stations, played in such groups as Loaded and collaborated with the amazing likes of Yassassin and Cumgirl8 (who she manages – see below for a great promo directed by Leah Hennessey featuring a Susan Sontag AI hologram – you have to sign in to watch it but it’s worth it).

    Billboard
    Glastonbury Festival billboards
    Pardini’s social conscience has also led her to work with such organisations as Brian Eno’s Earth Percent, Endometriosis UK and Rape Crisis.
    Hear Pardini’s talk about designing for music.

    Listen to Pardini’s recent playlist for International Women’s Day here and visit her site here.

  • Barney Bubbles’ copy of the groundbreaking graphic design book which inspired his work for decades

    This is Barney Bubbles’ copy of one of the books which not only advanced graphic design practice in the 1960s but was also to leave a major mark on him and his future output.

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  • Farewell Tom Pogson, painter best known for his Armed Forces cover

    ++ Armed Forces front cover from the 2020 box set reissue ++

    Sad to note the death last month at the age of 69 of the intriguing artist Tim (sometimes Tom) Pogson, whose work notably included the incredible pastiche of the popular wildlife painter David Shepherd for the front cover of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ 1979 album Armed Forces.

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  • Exclusive film of the meticulous making of A Box of Bubbles

    Here is exclusive film from the specialist printers which is handling the making of the forthcoming limited edition A Box of Bubbles.

    Just 500 copies of A Box of Bubbles will be published this summer; it contains a unique hard cover version of the new monograph The Wild World World of Barney Bubbles along with a folio of reproductions of the late graphic genius’s most innovative and eye-catching artworks.

     

    As this shows, A Box of Bubbles is presented in a clothbound pink solander box, featuring a screen-printed design taken from Barney Bubbles’ legendary artwork for Ian Dury and The Blockheads’ hit single Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick/There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards.

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  • Production shots from the making of A Box Of Bubbles

    //The clothbound box features screen-printed artwork on the cover and measures 280 x 230mm//

    Here are some production shots from the making of the forthcoming limited edition A Box Of Bubbles, which houses the new Barney Bubbles monograph and an exclusive folio set of highlights from the designer’ career.

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