Illustration
Fresh out of Art School I went for an interview with the design team at the BBC. They were incredibly insulting about my work. Next day, unwashed and unshaven and in a very aggressive mood I went for an interview with Willie Landels at Harpers & Queen. He gave me my first commission for a major magazine. I was on cloud 9. I worked for him for the next 10 years. I went on to major success with annual showings at European Illustration, a lot of album sleeves, book covers and editorial work. 3 cheers for Willie Landels.
ENRICO FROM PALERMO I met him in a bar whilst on holiday in Corsica. He told me the French Foreign Legion was his family. He drank whisky sours. One of my two best works. For sale, if you have £25,000 to spare
LUTHER ALISON ‘South Side Safari’. A record sleeve for Peter Shertser’s Red Lightnin’ Records. Peter never paid me that well but he let me do what I wanted. The work is now in the collection of Alfred Bradshaw.
999 ‘Nasty Nasty’. Dai Davies and Derek Savage gave me my break into the world of popular music. I also made several videos for their band ‘The Art of Noise’. This work in the collection of Geoff Tallon.
PEEP SHOW For Playboy magazine. based on the work of Matisse. I’ve always liked this work. I did a lot of work for Playboy and they always gave me a free hand. They paid well, but they kept the artwork. Sadly I can’t sell it.
NEW SCIENTIST ‘Toxic’. My first cover for New Scientist whose great art director, Chris Jones, was way ahead of her time. There was a spot of bother with this image as I used an image of a branded product being vomited out of the chap’s mouth. Well, the stuff was toxic. They apologised.
GYMNASIUM SEX After illustration and before computer programming took its hold on me I painted large scale canvasses. Perhaps one day I will return to this format.
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGLE My first big international success as an illustrator. It was shown in European Illustration in 1978. I was on my way. It was purchased by Felix Dennis. I’d love to buy it back if I can afford it!
IRON WAY OF THE STATE Without doubt my best illustration work. I have a deep affection for this piece. It shows trains. It is set in Italy. It brings back memories of a very happy holiday. It’s yours if you have £40,000 that needs a new home.
YOUNG POLAND This collage shows girls skipping on Poznan, Poland. I visited several times for exhibitions there and in Warsaw. It was in the days before the Wall came down. Happy, blissful days before the cancer of Capitalism took hold. Now in the collection of Ian and Angelina Nuttall.
JIMI HENDRIX ‘Woke up this Morning and Found Myself Dead’. For Peter Shertser’s Red Lightnin’ Records. A classic. And very successful. It is now in the care of Alfred Bradshaw.
999 ‘I’m Alive’. From the era of pub/punk rock. I lived close to the Nashville pub where the great bands of the day played. Loud, raucous and dangerous days. I worked on the logo for 3 days and 2 nights. Amphetamine was doing its stuff. This work in the collection of Geoff Tallon
SURVIVALIST CULTURE This is one of many works I did for Willie Landels on Harpers & Queen. Willie was a brilliant editor and art director. I could take over a complete double spread and mess with it if I cared. What the readers of Jennifer’s Diary made of it I can’t guess.
ANTI ARTISTS ON HOLIDAY IN ANTI UNIVERSE ‘Anti-Matter’. This was a winner. These days the covers of the magazine are so bland. Well - so, most likely, are the articles and the readership. This work is in the possession of the painter Frederick Gore who starred in my first drama ‘The Man of the Crowd’.
MISS BODY BEAUTIFUL I don’t recall the inspiration for this work. I was living in Earl’s Court at the time. It was considered as a cover for a German Heavy Metal band at one stage; but they turned it down.
THE ANNUNCIATION How strange, I thought, a young chick meets an angel and gets in the family way- and the whole process is done without the use of the sticky bits. Now in the collection of Alfred Bradshaw. I’ll let him work it out.
THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES A very rare oil-painting. I did a lot of work in oils whilst on my foundation course and dabbled a bit in later years. But this is my favourite. Sold to Felix Dennis. I want it back!
MOTHER AND CHILD It was my interest in Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Andrei Rublev’ that drew me into creating an icon. I had progressed from clean-cut and precise collages to a more aggressive style. Soon after this was completed I moved away from collage altogether. This work is in the collection of Alfred Bradshaw.
PINPOINT ‘Yo-Yo’. One of several sleeves I did for this excellent band on Derek Savage and Dai Davies’ Albion records. Somebody stole the artwork so I can’t offer it for sale.
999 ‘Emergency’. Albion Records was one of those small, dynamic record labels of the late 70’s and early 80’s era. There were many more; and they gave musicians and artists the chance to do their own thing. All of that changed by the 1990’s. This work in the collection of Geoff Tallon.
THE DEVIL’S MUSIC Another work for Peter Shertser’s Red Lightnin’ Records. A great double-album produced in co-operation with the BBC programme of the same name.
THE PERFECT SPY I rarely work for the BBC but on this occasion I was asked to produce a poster for a John le Carré series. It was probably quite good (TV was in those days) but I don’t recall ever watching an episode.