How appropriate that this exhibition “The Working Practices Of Barney Bubbles”, curated by Paul Gorman, is taking place at Chelsea Space, on the campus of Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Barney Bubbles is a hitherto undervalued graphic artist, something Paul Gorman began to set straight in 2008 with the publication of “Reasons To Be Cheerful – The Life And Work Of Barney Bubbles”. Thing is, we all have something in our record collection touched by the hand of BB, from Hawkwind to Kraftwerk, Nick Lowe to The Specials, he was responsible for such a huge chunk of our pop cultural history. Record sleeves (Elvis Costello, Ian Dury anyone?), logos (Strongbow, still unchanged, NME, ditto), pop videos (Ghost Town, how seminal?), oh, and furniture, packaging, posters……

Bubbles died just before the start of the digital age. So all the mood boards, scribbles and sketches you see in this exhibition are beautifully hand-made. Not messy (except when deliberately so, as in a note to sleeve printers “Artwork is deliberately done badly, do not adjust”), but it is such a pleasure to see a skilled draughtsman at work with the Rotring or felt tipped pen.

I interviewed Paul about his book for Ponystep which you can read here. “Reasons To be Cheerful” is now in its second print run, having been a hit worldwide. There’s a sense of personal satisfaction for  Gorman who grew up with Bubbles’ imagery inspiring him as much as the soundtrack it was illustrating.

Thanks to Caz Facey for the pictures.

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