Barney Bubbles

Blog

  • 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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  • Hundreds of Barney Bubbles designs in new Swedish exhibition

    Hundreds of record sleeves and pieces of ephemera designed by Barney Bubbles are currently on display in Sweden’s oldest record store, Burmans Musik in Umeå.

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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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  • New Design Freaks podcast on The Wild World of Barney Bubbles

    Wild World contributor Clarita Hinojosa discusses her essay and the book in the latest episode of the Design Freaks podcast.

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  • ‘A lovely and essential work bursting with delight’

    ‘There was a fair amount of detective work which went into it, but once you unlocked the door, it seemed that a lot of people were waiting for this; those that either worked with Bubbles or those that appreciated him were waiting for like-minded souls.’

    Paul Gorman to Jon Langmead, popmatters.com

    The Wild World of Barney Bubbles is hailed as ‘a lovely and essential work bursting with delight’ by pop culture website popmatters.com.

    Writer Jon Langmead, who interviews Wild World author Paul Gorman, has skin in the game as the drummer for The Paranoid Style. As regular readers will know, their new album released this week features lead track Barney Bubbles, a tribute to the late designer.

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  • Ed Hamell’s splendid Barney Bubbles interpretations

    This is the colour version of the drawing by musician Ed Hamell – of the band Hamell On Trial – which appears on the inner sleeve of The Paranoid Style’s new album For Executive Meeting.

    Hamell also contributed to the lyric video for the album’s lead track tribute to Bubbles, including the interpretation of the cover of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’s album Imperial Bedroom – watch out for it at 02.00 in the clip:

    Check out Hamell On Trial here.

    For Executive Meeting is available from all good record retailers and direct from Bar/None here.

  • Norman Maslov on The Wild World of Barney Bubbles on Youtube

    Artists’ agent and passionate music lover Norman Maslov has posted a 10 minute journey through The Wild World of Barney Bubbles on his Youtube channel, augmented by examples of original and reissue record sleeve and poster designs from his collection.

    Watch above and here.

  • 42 years separate this pair of Muleskinners-inspired T-shirts

    ++ Left: New Barney Bubbles Muleskinners T; right: Julian Balme’s tribute for The Commuters, 1980 ++

    42 years separate the designs in this great photo, which pairs the new official Barney Bubbles Muleskinners T-shirt on the left with the one-off tribute on the right designed in 1980 by Julian Balme for the UK post-punk R&B group The Commuters.

    Both belong to Peter Stanfield, the group’s harmonica player who is these days a prominent pop culture academic and author, notably of the recently published Pin-Ups 1972.

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  • ‘Everyone should own a copy’ – The Wild World of Barney Bubbles is published in the US today!!

    ++ Writer/musician Elizabeth Nelson with her copy of The Wild World of Barney Bubbles courtesy @paranoid_style on Instagram ++
    ++ Matthew Higgs, director/chief curator of White Columns Gallery in NYC, posted this to his IG account @matthewhiggs2015 ++

    The Wild World of Barney Bubbles is published in the US today and it’s already making waves.

    Writer/musician Elizabeth Nelson, whose band The Paranoid Style has a tribute to the late graphic artist on their forthcoming album, says: ‘It’s a visual feast and a must-have for fans of Bubbles, Stiff Records, album art, typography, design, music, beauty and inspiration writ large. Go get one wherever you buy literature!’

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  • The first copy of A Box of Bubbles is in…. and it looks amazing

    ++ A Box of Bubbles is housed in this impressive 25 x 30cm casing decorated with one of Barney Bubbles’ most familiar artworks, for Ian Dury & The Blockheads’ 1978 single Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick ++
    ++ The box contains a copy of The Wild World of Barney Bubbles with a different hard cover jacket from the regular version ++

    Very exciting – the first advance copy of A Box of Bubbles has arrived… and it looks amazing.

    ++ The boxed version of Wild World also has different end-papers based on patterns produced for Elvis Costello & The Attractions 1979 LP Armed Forces ++

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