Groove Grove Graphics exhibition at londonprintstudio

April 27, 2010 - PRLog -- This unique exhibition shows us West London’s spectacular contribution to world pop culture. It features outstanding graphics, design and music from the early 50's to the present, in a specially created environment. Home to  residents from Dusty Springfield, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Freddie Mercury of Queen,  to Seal, All Saints, Damon Albarn and Lily Allen, the area was at the centre of London's underground and punk culture in the '60's and '70's, and was featured in Mick Jagger's notorious film 'Performance'. Ladbroke Grove and the Westway have a mythical status in music history as The Clash, Motorhead and many others hung out on the scene with   legendary record companies -Trojan, Stiff, Rough Trade, Island, ZTT, and Virgin close by.

During the '80's and '90's new people arrived on the scene - labels like Mute, Guerilla Records, and Ace, along with artists like Depeche Mode -  recording, distributing and broadcasting rebellious and hedonistic music.  On show are designs by exceptional artists from the area -  the legendary Barney Bubbles whose work  with  Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Hawkwind gives plenty of reasons to be cheerful; and pioneering design group Hipgnosis, famous for their work with Pink Floyd and many Prog Rock musicians. A unique aspect of the show is the exploration and rediscovery of work by less well known artists- for example - extraordinary design from small West London reggae record labels  that illuminate a scene often overshadowed by Bob Marley and his long collaboration with Island Records.

Groove Grove Graphics tells the remarkable story of how successive waves of music came to dominate the world, growing out of West London’s varied communities of economic migrants, political exiles and young hedonists. The themes that tie these groups together and form the structure of the exhibition itself will be revealed via the Groove Grove Graphics blog. We're starting on 5th March with the theme of “Shrines”. In the run up to the show, (launching in early June) through the blog, the Groove Grove Graphics team wants to connect with anyone who feels a connection to this vibrant cultural scene and  the places that played host to our extraordinary local music.

londonprintstudio is based in this historically rich area of West London, and (working in the '70's as Paddington Printshop) helped Joe Strummer and the Sex Pistols produced their earliest fliers and posters, along with many other young artists in the reggae, punk and indie music scenes hoping to make a name for themselves.

The exhibition found its origins in a previous  show organised by londonprintstudio; the hugely successful Agitpop (Feb to May 2008) which explored the global history of protest graphics from Paris, May 1968 to the present.  West London’s contribution to this youth revolution was  that it wrote the soundtrack and designed the uniforms.  Groove Grove Graphics picks up from this and explores more deeply the cultural impact music and fashion from West London has had on the world.

The exhibition explores West London's pop culture by following ten themes that emerged from local research. On display there will be vintage  record sleeves, posters, photographs, memorabilia, videos, interviews, badges, t-shirts, reflecting scandalous tales and the most extraordinarily rich soundtrack of all time. After opening at londonprintstudio in June through September 2010,  a version of the show will  tour various venues including New York City.

The exhibition has been curated by  Jane Goodsir and John Phillips, supported by members of the  Bring into Being internship scheme.

Notes for Editors:

The exhibition presents many opportunities to cover London's best pop culture story of all time - from a range of different angles -



*    40th Anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix - his legacy

*    West London Metalgurus: Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page,  Dave Gilmour, Motorhead, and Brian May. What is it about West London that produced such distortion and feedback?

*     Folk and Jazz Fusions -virtuosi Courtney Pine, the Jazz Warriors,  Harold McNair, Joe Harriott ,and John Martyn's improbable collaboration with Lee Perry
*    Young and Lost- Is creativity borne from necessity? With  nothing to do and nowhere to go young West London promoters - WOW, NoDisko and ETA - are nomadic and frequently chaotic, yet  at the forefront of          introducing  new  West London talent.  

*    Broken Beat - from a basement in Ladbroke Grove to Manchester, New Zealand, L.A. and beyond, the West London genre that seems to work just fine.

*    Lee Scratch Perry's misadventures in London -was he robbed when the The Wailers and Bob Marley fell under the influence of Chris Blackwell?

*    West London gay culture, hedonists and dandies    - from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Erasure, PetShop Boys to Carl Barat and Pete Doherty of the Libertines?

*    West London's vibrant electrosynth and synthpop scene (Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode)- with Mute records in the building next door to londonprintstudio

*     Art School impresarios and artists in West London -from Malcolm MacLaren and ZTT to Freddie Mercury and Jarvis Cocker.

*     West London Weirdness -  The Deviants, the Pink Fairies,  Hawkwind and Killing Joke were bands who really did walk on the wild side.

*    West End Girls - Raincoats, The Slits, Dusty, and All Saints to Modern West End women- Lily Allen, and Kate Nash combining acid tounged lyrics with a dash of the wholesome Springfield sound, and sassy Estelle?

*    Gary Numan  from Hammersmith  and his band Tubeway Army wrote  Are Friends Electric?,   sampled by the Sugababes in their hit Freak Like Me -  is still an inspiration on the electro scene.

For more information, please email Cat Millar at:

info@groovegrovegraphics.org.uk

# # #

Londonprintstudio is a small not-for-profit organisation that provides educational resources in the graphic arts for artists, community organizations, education institutions and the public.