Designs by Barney Bubbles feature in three exhibitions which have opened in London this week.

Above are 24 of the Crown wallpaper variations of Bubbles sleeve design for the 1979 album Do It Yourself By Ian Dury & The Blockheads, as featured in the Donald Smith-curated group show Ideal Home at Chelsea Space.

Below is sneaky iPhone shot of Bubbles’ extraordinary design for Armed Forces by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, which was released the same year as Do It Yourself and appears in the V&A’s big autumn show Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-1990.

And above is a shot of Bubbles’ Elvis Costello poster for the 1977 Live Stiffs tour, which looms large in the subterreanean Old Vic Tunnels, venue for Stuart Semple’s exhibition Mindful Of Art, which is in aid of mental health charity Mind. The poster was sold last night at a gala auction hosted by Stephen Fry and Melvyn Bragg.

Also on display is a video installation by Kate Moross incorporating many Bubbles designs. Beamed from three TV screens this powerful light-show is cut to Hawkwind’s live 1972 track Orgone Accumulator.

Ideal Home is at Chelsea Space, Chelsea College Of Art & Design, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU until October 22. Details here.

Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-1990 is at the V&A, CRomwell Road, London SW7 2RL until January 15, 2012. Details here.

Mindful Of Art  is the Old Vic Tunnels, Station Approach, London SE1 8SW until next Monday, September 26. Details here.

Kosmo Vinyl has sent this photograph taken of himself with Barney Bubbles (centre) and an unidentified person (right)* in the west London offices of Stiff Records in 1977.

“I have no idea what we are looking at,” says Vinyl, the former plugger/publicist/ideas man for Dury and The Clash who later became a record producer.

“The way I’m holding whatever it is,  I’d say it’s a book or a magazine. I love the way it captures Barney’s enthusiasm and amazement.”

Vinyl has also provided some fascinating tales and insights into the creative partnership conducted between Bubbles and the late Ian Dury.

Having MC-ed dates on the autumn 1977 Lives Stiffs tour, Vinyl worked closely with Dury, who became Stiff’s priority act after the departure of co-founder Jake Riviera with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe.

“I first met Barney at 32 Alexander Street (Stiff’s Paddington headquarters),” says Vinyl. “He was downstairs with his own little space in the back, by an old sink, very basic.

“At that time Stiff was half a dozen people, if that, and I was keen to pitch in. If records arrived and needed unloading, it was all hands on deck, from the top to the bottom (which was probably me).

“Anyway Barney and I just hit it off, we were fellow enthusiasts. I had no idea about artwork or design; I don’t think I had ever thought about how a record cover came about.

“Barney would be down there being very positive, working away in front of me and chatting, completely unfazed by anything else going on. If I ever had a spare few minutes I’d go and see what Barney was up to – he was always there and always working.”

" Ian Blockhead". Poster fold, 30cm x 21cm.

"Charley Blockhead".

"Norman Blockhead".

"Micky Blockhead".

Poster. 59cm x 64cm.

Vinyl also played an important part in a photo-session of Dury with members of his newly formed band The Blockheads. Shot by Chris Gabrin, the results were used in a series of Bubbles’ designs, including an  eight-part fold-out tour poster and promotional and advertising material.

Aged 20 with a sharp New Wave/retro look himself, Vinyl helped the musicians, who had been part of mid-70s good vibes outfit Loving Awareness, make the transition to the streetwise appearances demanded by the post-punk period.

Dury, of course, handled his own look, as did his singular colleague from Kilburn & The High Roads, saxophonist Davey Payne. Songwriter/keyboard-player Chaz Jankel was absent.

“I helped out with Norman (Watt-Roy, bass), Charley (Charles, drummer), Johnny (Turnbull, guitar) and Mickey (Gallagher, keyboards), although I didn’t think of it as styling at the time,” says Vinyl.

“It was more a case of, ‘Let’s lose that dodgy jacket and stack heel boots’. It was a two-way street; they pointed out things that I or someone else was wearing and would say, ‘I like that’. They recognised that sartorially they were out of touch, but were keen to catch up.”

With a few bob from Dury’s management Blackhill Enterprises, Vinyl bought some clothes and found other garments, including a double-breasted suit designed for Ian Dury by Malcolm McLaren in 1974 at the Kilburn’s then-manager Tommy Roberts‘ behest. This “SEX Original” suit was worn by Watt-Roy, though not for this shoot.

Reverse poster fold. Ian Dury.

Dury with Turnbull + Watt-Roy.

Charles, Dury, Turnbull, Payne, Gallagher + Watt-Roy.

Watt-Roy + Charles.

Poster reverse.

“Once Mickey got a pair of creepers and a haircut he was away,” says Vinyl. “In view of the album title, it was Dr Martens all round.”

The front of Bubbles’ fold-out tour poster replaced the group’s faces with the business end of Ronson electric shavers.

On the flip, Bubbles exposed the production process which surrounded pop promotion by featuring Gabrin’s contact sheets adorned with crop marks, selections and decorations.

The same portrait shots from the poster were also used in tour adverts in which the heads were replaced with the then-new Blockhead logo, while ads for New Boots & Panties!! used frames captioned with Dury’s alternate title suggestions (including “Don’t Fart Before Your Arse Is Ready” and “Be Savoury”).

As essayed in Reasons To Be Cheerful, Bubbles and Dury’s working relationship flourished as a result of their shared understanding of art and design.

“As far as I am aware, Barney had a complete free rein/reign over the artwork for Ian and The Blockheads,” says Vinyl.

“Whatever he delivered, Ian loved. There was mutual respect and appreciation. Ian spent seven years at art school and then did some teaching, so I think he knew as well as anyone, perhaps more so, how talented Bubbles was.

“To me, they saw themselves as equals and were very aware of the craft and hard work each put into their art.”

Tour advert, New Musical Express, May 6, 1978.

Ads from the shoot were featured in Process: The Working Practices Of Barney Bubbles at Chelsea Space, Sept/Oct 2010.

As also detailed in Reasons and here, Bubbles’ creation of the Blockhead logo emerged during his initial conversation with Dury.

“We wanted a logo that could be printed on t-shirts,” says Vinyl. “I clearly remember Barney told Ian he thought he had it before their telephone conversation was over. That was a maximum of five minutes from being asked, probably less.  Ian put down the phone and said, ‘He’s done it’.”

Vinyl says that Bubbles was jazzed that t-shirts bearing the logo were printed for the children of the band members and their management: “Barney loved the idea of kids wearing his design. I think it gave him some encouragement and perhaps the opportunity to do some very playful stuff.”

Few of Bubbles’ designs are more playful than the Tommy The Talking Toolbox ident for the band’s 1979 album Do It Yourself.

“Tommy was one of Ian’s absolute favourites,” declares Vinyl. “He couldn’t believe it when he first saw it. ‘Delighted’ would be an understatement.

“There weren’t many people Ian Dury trusted 100%. He’d been about a bit, but he trusted Barney completely.”

* CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS PERSON? WE’VE ASKED AROUND AND NOBODY HAS COME UP WITH A NAME. IS IT IN FACT YOU? IF IT IS, GIVE US A SHOUT.

Congratulations to Willow Timmons of Cardiff, whose name was picked out of the hat for providing the correct answer to the question:

Which album by Ian Dury & The Blockheads featured 28 front cover variations of 1970s Crown wallpaper patterns? 

It was of course Do It Yourself – read all about the story behind the design here.

Your copy of 70s Style & Design will be winging its way from publisher Thames & Hudson to you very soon Willow.

Commiserations to the many other entrants and best of luck next time – we have more exciting competitions coming this way so keep your peepers peeled.

Art Chantry at a recent exhibition of his work.

Art (who once played pool with Ted Bundy, fact fans) has long occupied an important place in my record collection as the designer for such too-cool-for-school labels as Estrus.

A couple of years back he published the indispensable Some People Can’t Surf, so it’s with great pleasure we post this exclusive tete-a-tete packed with insights into Barney’s working practices and enduring influence.

“I wish his voice were still active,” declares Art. “We need more monkey-wrenchers!”

We started our chat at the beginning:

PG: When did you first come across the work of Barney Bubbles?

AC: Living in the remote upper Northwest corner of the United States, I really didn’t take notice of him until the punk era.  I was unaware of Hawkwind or even Oz, but was in college when punk first started to emerge (in the Pacific Northwest, that was the mid-70s) and that’s when I encountered him through his work for Stiff and, of course, Elvis Costello.  

Back cover, Less Than Zero, Elvis Costello, 1977.

I didn’t know what to make of it.  I was a budding young graphic design student, reared on hippie/disco culture, comic books/TV and fine art history.

The first time I saw a real punk poster on a telephone pole, I was stopped dead in my tracks.  I peeled off that poster and hung it in my little apartment and stared at it for weeks. It took me a long time to process what I was looking at.

When I ran into Barney Bubbles’ work shortly thereafter in a record store, it was like looking at messages from Mars, utterly alien to everything I had learned about design and art. Even after the initial impact of punk, it was still an intensely foreign language to me.

What singled out his work from that of other sleeve and poster designers?

Several things struck me immediately.  Of course, he had an intense colour sense.  His personal palette comprised bright primaries and stark contrasts. This was unlike most of the work of the 1970s, when (at least in American popular culture) earth tones dominated in the beautiful designs produced by people like Gary Burden for the mainstream Southern California rock scene: Eagles, CSN&Y, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne.

To be suddenly smacked between the eyes by Barney Bubbles’ colours was a sound jolt.

Rare sealed collector's edition, Damned Damned Damned, The Damned, 1977.

But the really contrasting aspect was his thinking.  Whatever was going on, he did the opposite.  It may not have seemed that way in his mind (for instance his industrial and architecture work in your book points out a seamless path to the work on The Damned LP cover Music For Pleasure), but to the general pop culture trend at large around him, it was coming from an alternate position. It even seemed contrary to punk.  

Front Cover, Music For Pleasure, The Damned, 1977.

Compare his careful, studied, playful work to the other major design tastemaker of the period: Jamie Reid. Again, he is totally opposite. It was even startling from the punk perspective.

The other major factor which grabbed my attention – more than all of the other designers working in the period – was his wondrous sense of humour. He must have been a wonderful guy to hang out with.  

Every one of his covers is a carefully rendered inside joke. To me he is at his most marvelous when he references the very process of design itself – through intentional MISTAKES!  

I found the off-registered version of Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model in the import bin and it blew me away.  In America, they released the cover which eliminated the joke. Apparently, the captains of the music industry didn’t get it, and thought it was a real mistake or something. You could only find the original design in the import section – along with most American punk, which had to imported before it could be sold in an American record store.  Strange times.

Front cover, This Year's Model, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, 1978.

This Year’s Model completely flabbergasted me. It actually took me a long time to figure out it wasn’t a misprint. And, when I realised it was a joke, I never looked at graphic design in the same way again.  

I firmly believe that “contrary thinking” was his biggest contribution to graphic design. His ability to step outside of the accepted conventions and poke them with a stick endeared him to an entire generation of designers desperately trying to re-invent the language of design. And that’s why punks loved him.

Do you detect a coherence given his variety of forms, methods, materials and styles?

Yes, definitely. I hate to use Picasso as a comparison in any context, but Barney Bubbles’ use of medium precluded his method and style.  It really didn’t matter what his material or form, his work remained idiosyncratically his own and simultaneously reflective of the mood of the times.

Like Picasso, who would work in graphite, oils, assemblage, or metal or stone or ceramic, etc, etc, yet the end result always looked like a Picasso.  Barney Bubbles’ masterful approach made his chosen method or style just a simple tool to get his thoughts across.

The work was never anonymous. You could always spot him, no matter how dramatically his style shifted from project to project.

Tell us about your favourite Barney Bubbles design.

Aside from This Year’s Model that would be the (again) imported-from-Europe, un-American version of Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello And The Attractions. That carefully scraped “wear ring” around the area where the vinyl record label would actually have rubbed through the printing as it was handled? That knocked me for a loop.  

Front cover, Get Happy!!, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, 1980.

As I examined the cover further, I saw how he crudely overlapped colours to create new levels of imagery, just like the old-time album sleeve designers in the era he was referencing. It just nailed it for me. Get Happy!! was a brilliant tour-de-force of inside-graphic-design fetish-collector humour.  I love that.

Inner, Get Happy!!, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, 1980.

In what way has Barney Bubbles influenced you?

You see Barney Bubbles’ thinking popping up everywhere in my work. He was a huge influence on my design development. I’ve used his “wallpaper” idea from the cover for Do It Yourself  by Ian Dury & The Blockheads over and over again. Only once have I used the actual wallpaper sample idea – on a poster – but I have taken the basic approach with velveteen paper, metal, garbage, etc, etc.

Front Cover, Do It Yourself, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, 1979.

That stepping outside the printing process and then throwing in a spanner will forever be part of my thinking as a designer.  I’ve also used the “wear-ring” idea, the “off register’ ideas, the primary color overlapping humor, the retro-revival of lost styles idea…

All of these quirks and jokes have been morphed into a base-level part of my particular graphic dialogue.  I NEVER grow tired of that sort of thinking.

Do you detect his influence on other contemporary designers?

Barney Bubbles’ influence works directly through people like  me.  I’m of the directly influenced generation.  Then there are the successive generations who not only see his work, but have seen mine and the work of so many others (including Paula Scher and Tibor Kalman) and simply followed the trail.  

By now Barney Bubbles’ influence has become so diverse and foregone in the language of graphic design that his thinking is used and referenced without awareness.  His ideas worked their way into the shared language of graphic design so that, at this point, he is one of the most often imitated master thinkers, and it’s all unnoticed.  He has become a prime influence through his imitators. 

Had he lived, where do you think Barney Bubbles’ work would be at today?

I think it would stem from his manipulation of processes. He would be one of those guys taking computer systems apart and exquisitely breaking them and re-wiring them to do things that were never meant to do, so obvious and yet ignored. I wish his voice were still active. We need more monkey-wrenchers.

Why is the revival of interest happening now, more than 25 years after his death?

The very idea of “graphic design” as a worthy discipline is still in its infancy and the history of this discipline is still in the hands of the academics and the amateurs.  

They tend to gather around the pillars of the imagined “great men” of graphic design, ignoring the vast majority of design language out there that is created by direct interaction with popular culture.  

Barney Bubbles’s work is NOT academic.  It’s learned and intellectual, but decidedly outside of academia.  As a result, he has been hidden from the mainstream of design culture thought.  

Most of the truly great design dismissed as “vernacular” by academia is unfairly judged to lack introspection, history and authorship.  

Nothing could be further from the truth and Barney Bubbles personifies my point. The historical and visceral power of his ideas is as plain as the nose on your face.  Yet, like so many before and after him, he has been overlooked.  At least until now.  Thank you for writing this book. We all thank you. And thanks for this opportunity to ramble on about one of my heroes.

Art appears in the forthcoming rock poster art documentary American Artifact, which also features Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso, Frank Kozik, EMEK, Tara McPherson, COOP and Jay Ryan.

Check out the trailer here.