All photographs by Brian Usher unless otherwise credited.
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The images on view are the result of my formative influences, just like every other artist, however these are mine;
- being taught by John Hoyland, Patrick Caulfield & Allen Jones at Chelsea School of Art.
- British & American Pop Art (particularly Peter Blake).
- two years in the rock’n’roll business in the sixties.
- three decades as co-founder & creative director of the highly successful design group Whitmore-Thomas, working upon an extraordinary array of of truly iconic projects from Biba (‘The most beautiful store in the world’ – The Sunday Times) to Paul McCartney, from Levis, Pepsi & Esso to London Transport & Subaru World Rally Team.
- the wonderful flexibility of the English language, allowing me to create visual images involving, hopefully, humorous & witty linguistic gymnastics.
Amalgamating these influences from painting, particularly Pop Art & Hard Edge, design craft, rock’n’roll & word-play has given me the vocabulary to create these images in this exhibition.
If a picture tells a story, then these artworks are my history; using elements from my early art school Hard Edge paintings, iconic images that I created during my design career & references from my more recent print images, & using my not-forgotten skills of drawing & painting, photography & collage making, I have assembled a suite of six prints entitled “ArtAngels”, a series of autobiographical totems – symmetrical kaleidoscopic new images from my past.
There are also two images, as a diptych, from the “Americana” series reflecting my continued involvement with contemporary Pop Art, with visual puns of branding.
Lastly there are four images from the “Clash of the Titans” suite – images that result from the accident of nomenclature, word-play, Spoonerisms & puns. One day I’ll attempt the image that is Boy George Michael Angelo Dundee Cake, but until then…….
24 Oct 2012 –27 Jan 2013
CHELSEA Futurespace
Hepworth Court
Grosvenor Waterside
Gatliff Road
London SW1W 8QP
Tel: 0207 514 6983