Editing Barney Bubbles

{{Short description|English graphic artist (1942–1983)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{UBE|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name             = Barney Bubbles
| honorific_suffix =
| image            = Barney Bubbles.jpeg
| image_size       =
| alt              =
| caption          =
| native_name      =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name       = Colin Fulcher
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1942|07|30}}
| birth_place      = [[Whitton, London|Whitton]], [[Middlesex]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1983|11|14|1942|07|30}}
| death_place      = [[Islington]], [[Greater London]], England
| resting_place    = London, England
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| education        = [[Richmond upon Thames College|Twickenham College of Technology]]
| alma_mater       =
| known_for        =
| notable_works    = The design of the [[Radar Records]] logo and the redesign of the ''[[NME]]'' logo. ''[[Damned Damned Damned]], [[Music for Pleasure (The Damned album)|Music For Pleasure]], [[My Aim Is True]], [[This Year's Model]], [[Armed Forces (album)|Armed Forces]], [[Labour of Lust]]'' album covers.
| style            =
| home_town        =
| movement         =
| spouse           =
| partner          =
| awards           = British Poster Design Awards (1964/65)
| elected          =
| patrons          =
| memorials        =
| website          = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} -->
| module           =
}}

'''Barney Bubbles''' (born '''Colin Fulcher'''; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English [[graphic artist]] whose work encompassed [[graphic design]] and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distinctive contribution to the design practices associated with the [[British rock music|British independent music]] scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His record sleeves, laden with [[symbol]]s and [[riddle]]s, were his most recognisable output.

==Early life==
Fulcher was born in Tranmere Road, [[Whitton, London|Whitton]], [[Middlesex]] (now Greater London), in July 1942. He attended [[Isleworth and Syon School|Isleworth Grammar School]]. In 1958 he embarked on a retail display course for a [[BTEC Extended Diploma|National Diploma in Design]] (NDD) at the art school of [[Richmond upon Thames College|Twickenham College of Technology]].<ref>[[Reasons to Be Cheerful (book)|Reasons to Be Cheerful]]: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles, Paul Gorman (Adelita 2008) {{ISBN|978-0-9552017-3-8}}</ref> During his five years at the college Fulcher received a multi-disciplinary education that included training in cardboard design, display and packaging, skills that would be utilised later in his record sleeve work.

==Career==
===Michael Tucker + Associates===
After leaving college in 1963, Fulcher worked as an assistant at the design company Michael Tucker + Associates in London.<ref name="The Life 2010">[[Reasons to Be Cheerful (book)|Reasons to Be Cheerful]]: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles, 2nd edition, Paul Gorman (Adelita 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-9552017-4-5}}</ref> Its clients included [[Pirelli]]. In a rare interview in November 1981 in ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]'', Bubbles described Tucker's discipline as "very Swiss; very hard; unjustified, very grey; and he taught me ''everything'' about typography." Tucker's studio produced the posters for [[Hugh Hudson]]'s Pirelli-sponsored film ''The Tortoise & The Hare'' (1967), for which Fulcher designed the poster lettering on a freelance basis.<ref name="The Life 2010"/>

===The Conran Group===
In May 1965, Fulcher was recruited by The Conran Group as senior graphic designer alongside Stafford Cliff, Virginia Clive-Smith and John Muggeridge. He produced a variety of commercial commissions for Conran, including the Norman-style archer logo for [[Strongbow cider]] and items for Conran's new homewares chain [[Habitat (retailer)|Habitat]]. Fulcher also established an association with Justin de Blank, a director at Conran, which blossomed when de Blank left to launch his own upmarket provisions company and restaurant business in 1968.

===A1 Good Guyz and other early activities===
Between 1965 and 1966, Fulcher organised happenings, parties and other events under the name ''A1 Good Guyz'' with two graduates of Twickenham Art College, David Wills and Roy Burge.

In 1967, Fulcher became known as Barney Bubbles, although he did not change his name by [[deed poll]] for several more years. The name came about when Fulcher was operating a light show that created a bubble effect by mixing oils and water on projection slides. These lightshows were for groups including [[The Gun (band)|the Gun]] and [[Quintessence (English band)|Quintessence]] at underground venues including [[the Roundhouse]], Jim Haynes's Drury Lane [[Arts Lab]], the [[Electric Cinema, Notting Hill|Electric Cinema]] and [[Middle Earth]].

With Wills, Bubbles undertook freelance design commissions, including a redesign of ''Motor Racing'' magazine and a recipe book for the English Egg Marketing Board. With a team of contributors Bubbles and Wills art-directed [[Oz (magazine)|''Oz'']] magazine issue 12, dubbed ''The Tax Dodge Special'' and published in May 1968.

===Teenburger Designs===
[[File:Brinsleyschwarzeponymous.jpg|thumb|right|The original UK LP sleeve of [[Brinsley Schwarz]]'s ''Brinsley Schwarz'' (1970) designed by Barney Bubbles]]

Early in 1969, Bubbles took the lease on a three-storey building at 307 [[Portobello Road]] in Notting Hill Gate, West London. He converted the ground-floor space into a graphic art studio, which he named Teenburger Designs. With a business association established with two entrepreneurs, Edward Molton and Stephen Warwick, and with John Muggeridge from Conran serving briefly as an assistant, he set about working primarily for the music industry. His first record sleeve design was for [[Quintessence (English band)|Quintessence]]'s LP ''[[In Blissful Company]]'' (1969). The gatefold sleeve design uses illustrations by Gopala on the front and back, and contains a monochrome glued-in booklet inside.

Teenburger also provided record sleeve designs for the bands [[Brinsley Schwarz]] and [[Red Dirt (band)|Red Dirt]], as well as [[Vertigo Records|Vertigo]] artists such as [[Cressida (progressive rock band)|Cressida]], [[Gracious!]] and Dr Z, whose LP ''Three Parts to My Soul'' is particularly noted for its complex and colourful fold-out sleeve.

Following the closure of Teenburger in 1970 as a result of the disappearance of Molton and Warwick, Bubbles worked as the designer of the underground newspaper [[Friends (magazine)|''Friends'']] (later renamed ''Frendz'').<ref>Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground, 1961–1971, Jonathon Green (Pimlico 1998) {{ISBN|978-0-7126-6665-7}}</ref>

Bubbles' son, Aten Skinner, who is also an artists and graphic designer, was born in 1972.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://davidwills.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/colin-fulcher-at-school/ | title=Colin Fulcher at School | date=26 August 2008 }}</ref>

===Hawkwind (and other 1970s rock)===
[[File:In Search of Space - Hawkwind.jpg|thumb|left|The original UK LP sleeve of [[Hawkwind]]'s ''[[In Search of Space]]'' designed by Barney Bubbles]]

While he was working at ''Friends'', Bubbles formed an association with [[Hawkwind]] and became responsible for a run of their album sleeves, including ''[[In Search of Space]]'', ''[[Doremi Fasol Latido]]'' and ''[[Space Ritual]]''. Bubbles engaged in many aspects of the group's visual identity, titling releases and designing posters, adverts, stage decoration and performance plans, some of which were adorned with [[mystical]] and mock-[[Teuton]]ic [[insignia]]. In 1972 Bubbles produced the triple LP package ''[[Glastonbury Fayre (album)|Glastonbury Fayre]]''. This comprised a six-panel fold-out card sleeve, two poster inserts, a booklet and a cut-out and build miniature pyramid, housed in a clear vinyl bag (with two sleeve variations and three label variations).

From 1973 onwards, Bubbles increasingly avoided credits for his artwork, typically working anonymously or occasionally adopting alternative pseudonyms. During this period he designed album sleeves and additional material for such acts as the [[Sutherland Brothers]], [[Kevin Coyne]], [[Edgar Broughton Band]], [[Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers]], [[Quiver (Rock band)|Quiver]], the [[Kursaal Flyers]] and [[Michael Moorcock|Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix]].

In 1976, his design relationship with Hawkwind came to an end. It was rekindled once, in 1978, for the [[Hawklords]] spin-off, but otherwise continued only with design commissions for projects involving the band's saxophonist [[Nik Turner]].

===Stiff, Radar and F Beat (and other punk and new wave)===

[[File:Carlenecest.jpg|thumb|right|The original UK LP sleeve of [[Carlene Carter]]'s ''[[C'est C Bon]]'' designed by Barney Bubbles]]

Barney Bubbles joined [[Stiff Records]] as designer and art director early in 1977. With the label's co-founder [[Jake Riviera]] he generated a body of creative work that helped to secure Stiff's reputation as an exciting new independent label. Bubbles created sleeves for bands including [[The Damned (band)|the Damned]], [[Elvis Costello]], [[Ian Dury]] and [[Wreckless Eric]]. Often these were accompanied by quirky logos such as the face logo for [[Ian Dury#The Blockheads|Blockhead]], advertisements and promotional items. The marketing of Elvis Costello's ''[[My Aim Is True]]'' included advertisements in three UK music papers from which a poster of Costello could be constructed, and the first 1,000 pressings contained an insert headed ''Help Us Hype Elvis'', which, if completed and returned to Stiff, ensured that a friend would receive a free copy.

When Riviera left Stiff in late 1977, Bubbles joined him at his new label [[Radar Records]] and later at Riviera's [[F-Beat Records]]. At these labels, Bubbles created more designs for Elvis Costello, as well as other artists such as [[Nick Lowe]], [[Carlene Carter]], [[Blanket of Secrecy]] and [[Clive Langer]] & The Boxes.

Bubbles also maintained his freelance output, producing designs for [[Peter Jenner]] (Ian Dury and [[Billy Bragg]]'s manager), and others. He created a prodigious output by working for such bands, musicians and performers as [[Peter Hammill]], [[Vivian Stanshall]], [[Generation X (band)|Generation X]], [[Big Star]], [[Johnny Moped]], [[Whirlwind]], Billy Bragg, [[Clover (band)|Clover]], [[the Sinceros]], [[Roger Chapman]], [[Phillip Goodhand-Tait]], [[Dr. Feelgood (band)|Dr. Feelgood]], [[Inner City Unit]] and [[the Psychedelic Furs]]. As a result, his work appeared on releases by labels such as Aura, [[Chiswick]], [[Utility]], [[Go! Discs]], [[Epic Records|Epic]], [[Charisma Records|Charisma]], [[CBS]], [[Line Records]], [[United Artists Records|United Artists]] and [[Riddle Records]]. His signature style emerged as one that was colourful, playful, loaded with geometry, art-history and music-history references, jokes, cryptograms and symbols. The overriding appetite was for going against the grain of accepted design standards. His work is simultaneously complex in meaning and simple in its delivery.{{According to whom|date=May 2016}} Examples include:

[[File:Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.JPG|thumb|right|The original UK 45rpm single picture sleeve of [[Ian Dury and the Blockheads]]' "[[Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick]]" designed by Barney Bubbles]]

* [[Elvis Costello]]: ''[[This Year's Model]]'', which was designed to have a deliberate miscropping so that the entire design was off-register and a sticker that read 'Free Album With This Single';
* [[The Damned (band)|The Damned]]: ''[[Damned Damned Damned]]'', a limited number of which were deliberately printed with a photo of Eddie and the Hot Rods on the back of the cover, rather than the Damned playing at the Roxy Club, and with an erratum sticker apologising for this "mistake", and on the front of the LP, on top of the original shrinkwrap, a red food-fight sticker saying 'Damned Damned', thus completing the LP's title when read underneath the band's name;
* Elvis Costello: ''[[Armed Forces (album)|Armed Forces]]'', with an extended back panel consisting of folding flaps, postcards carrying the instruction ''DON'T JOIN'' (advice against joining the armed forces), and a message that these postcards had been die-cut from the rest of the sleeve;
* [[Nick Lowe]]: ''[[Labour of Lust]]'', with its innovative "Hamer & sickle" logo, fashioning Lowe's Hamer-brand bass guitar into a playful version of the actual [[Hammer and sickle]], the symbol of proletarian solidarity first adopted during the [[Russian Revolution]] (Bubbles's original mockup is shown on the gatefold sleeve of the 2011 Yep Roc reissue of the album);
* [[Ian Dury and the Blockheads]]: ''[[Do It Yourself (Ian Dury & the Blockheads album)|Do It Yourself]]'', which was released in at least 30 known sleeve variations, all of which were old designs supplied by [[Crown Wallpaper]].

===Music promo videos===
Barney Bubbles directed several videos, including [[the Specials]]' "[[Ghost Town (The Specials song)|Ghost Town]]", [[Squeeze (band)|Squeeze]]'s "[[Is That Love]]" and "[[Tempted (Squeeze song)|Tempted]]", [[Elvis Costello]]'s "[[Clubland (song)|Clubland]]" and "[[New Lace Sleeves]]", and [[Fun Boy Three]]'s "[[The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)]]". Two promos for the punk act [[Johnny Moped]], "Incendiary Device" and "Darling Let's Have Another Baby", were never commercially released to broadcasters.

"A good video can sell a record which might not do so well," Bubbles told ''[[Smash Hits]]'' magazine in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/6442288427/in/set-72157628248724685/ |title=Smash Hits, January 21, 1982 - p. 32 &#124; Flickr - Photo Sharing! |date=2 December 2011 |publisher=Secure.flickr.com |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726153840/https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/6442288427/in/set-72157628248724685/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "The record companies know that. I think Chrysalis would agree that The Specials' 'Ghost Town' video helped sales a good deal. This year I intend to make videos which are really inexpensive but really inventive. It can be done, you know."

===''NME''===
[[File:NME logo.png|Bubbles' logo for the ''[[NME]]''|thumb|right]]
In 1979, riding on the reputation of his work for Stiff, Bubbles was engaged by the UK music newspaper ''[[New Musical Express]]'' to spearhead an overhaul of its decades-old brand. Bubbles' redesign incorporated elements of [[Pop art]] and 1920s Soviet poster art into a "sleek, forward-looking" graphic format.<ref name="Long">{{Cite book |last=Long |first=Pat |year=2012 |title=The History of the NME: High times and low lives at the world's most famous music magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DG6_CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT155 |location=London/New York |publisher=Anova/Pavilion |pages=155–156 |isbn=9781907554773 |access-date=5 May 2016 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726153855/https://books.google.com/books?id=DG6_CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT155 |url-status=live }}</ref> His restyling included a fresh [[logo]] with "clean, stencilled, military-style lettering", which heralded the title's change from ''New Musical Express'' to ''NME''.<ref name="Long"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vinmag.com/online/gbu0-display/nme.html|title=NME The Inside Story|access-date=5 May 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080513215310/http://www.vinmag.com/online/gbu0-display/nme.html |archive-date = 13 May 2008 }}</ref>

===Other work===
In 1979, [[Derek Boshier]] curated an exhibition entitled Lives at the [[Hayward Gallery]], London, and he commissioned Bubbles to design the catalogue and poster. Together with the photographer [[Chris Gabrin]], Bubbles also exhibited a video and mixed-media installation in the exhibition.

In the early 1980s, Bubbles created furniture designs, some of which were featured in ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]'', November 1981.

In 1982, Bubbles conceived the album ''Ersatz'', working primarily with [[Nik Turner]] and other musicians from [[Inner City Unit]]. The LP was released under the name of The Imperial Pompadours.

Bubbles painted privately, increasingly in the early 1980s.

==Death==
Fulcher, who suffered from [[manic depression]], committed suicide in London on 14 November 1983 by gassing himself, trapping the fumes in a plastic bag he placed over his head, at the age of 41.<ref name="Mark Hodkinson">{{Cite news | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wh7h | publisher=BBC Radio 4 | title=In Search of Barney Bubbles | first=Mark | last=Hodkinson | date=2 January 2012 | access-date=3 January 2012 | archive-date=11 January 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111185244/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wh7h | url-status=live }}</ref> He had considerable personal and financial worries, and had fallen out of fashion in the early 1980s. His designs for record sleeves were being rejected by musicians and record companies, and he was being investigated by the [[Inland Revenue]] for unpaid taxes dating back several years.<ref name="Sleep Till Canvey Island 2000">No Sleep Till Canvey Island: The Great Pub Rock Revolution, Will Birch (Virgin Books 2000, 2003) {{ISBN|0-7535-0740-4}}</ref> He was also displaying increasingly erratic behaviour, alarming close friends by lacerating his face with razor blades and making threats to kill himself.<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]: Greatest Album Covers, 2006</ref>

==Monograph/biography==
''Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles'',<ref>Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Times of Barney Bubbles, Paul Gorman, Adelita ISBN 978-095520-17-3-8</ref> a hybrid [[monograph]]-biography by [[Paul Gorman]] containing 400-plus images of artworks by Bubbles and contributions from British designers [[Peter Saville (graphic designer)|Peter Saville]] and [[Malcolm Garrett]] along with [[Billy Bragg]] was published in November 2008 by independent British imprint Adelita. The book was welcomed as a long-overdue recognition of Bubbles' achievements<ref>{{cite news|author=Rob Hughes |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/music/article132948.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501112813/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/music/article132948.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 May 2015 |title=The sleeve designs of Barney Bubbles |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=23 November 2008 |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/arts/design/07album.html?scp=1&sq=barney%20bubbles&st=cse&_r=0 | work=The New York Times | first=Alice | last=Rawsthorn | title=Judging an Elusive Artist by His Distinctive Covers | date=7 January 2009 | access-date=24 February 2017 | archive-date=24 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024043721/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/arts/design/07album.html?scp=1&sq=barney%20bubbles&st=cse&_r=0 | url-status=live }}</ref> and selected by British music magazine ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' as its Book Of The Year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2009/11/21/barney-ascendant/ |title=Barney ascendant |publisher=Johncoulthart.com |date=21 November 2009 |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=31 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531044712/http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2009/11/21/barney-ascendant/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A revised and updated second edition of ''Reasons To Be Cheerful'', with an additional contribution by US graphic artist [[Art Chantry]], was published by Adelita in October 2010.<ref>Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Times of Barney Bubbles, Paul Gorman, Adelita ISBN 978-0-9552017-4-5</ref>

The third edition of the [[monograph]], retitled ''The Wild World of Barney Bubbles: Graphic Design and the Art of Music'', with a new cover and updated sections including previously unpublished designs and an essay by American graphic designer Clarita Hinojosa, was published by [[Thames & Hudson]] in June 2022 in the UK and in July 2022 in the US.<ref>The Wild World of Barney Bubbles: Graphic Design and the Art of Music, Paul Gorman, Thames & Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-29645-5</ref>

A companion limited edition box-set, ''A Box of Bubbles'', containing the monograph with a different jacket and reproductions of the designer's artworks for [[Ian Dury]], [[Hawkwind]] and the Glastonbury Fayre triple-LP package, was published by specialist imprint Volume in September 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gorman |first=Paul |title=A Box of Bubbles |url=https://vol.co/product/barney-bubbles/ |access-date=7 August 2022}}</ref>

==Influence and legacy==
Barney Bubbles is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and exemplar of design for music. 'To say that Bubbles' work was influential would be an understatement. He took the world by storm with his momentous contribution,' wrote Creative Boom's Aya Angelos in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.creativeboom.com/features/barney-bubbles/ | title=The Wild World of Barney Bubbles: A closer look at the enduring influence of the iconic graphic designer | date=21 June 2022 }}</ref> According to Peter Saville, 'The work of Barney Bubbles expresses post-modern principles: that there is the past, the present and the possible; that culture and the history of culture are a fluid palette of semiotic expression and everything is available to articulate a point of view.'<ref>Reasons To be Cheerful: The Life & Times of Barney Bubbles, [[Paul Gorman]], Adelita ISBN 978-095520-17-3-8</ref>

The first exhibition dedicated to Bubbles' work was held at London gallery Artomatic in 2001,<ref name="Sleep Till Canvey Island 2000"/> curated by the art-design team Rebecca And Mike.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://showstudio.com/contributors/333 |title=Rebecca & Mike - SHOWstudio - The Home of Fashion Film |publisher=SHOWstudio |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804052710/http://showstudio.com/contributors/333 |archive-date=4 August 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Paul Gorman]] and Caz Facey curated an exhibition about Bubbles' practice entitled ''Process: The Working Practices of Barney Bubbles'' at London gallery Chelsea Space in October 2010.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/arts/13iht-design13.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/arts/13iht-design13.html |archive-date=1 January 2022 |url-access=limited|title=A Global Celebration of Design | work=The New York Times | first=Alice|last=Rawsthorn|date=12 September 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In January 2012, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary, ''In Search of Barney Bubbles'', written, produced and presented by [[Mark Hodkinson]].

In summer 2012 Gorman curated The Past The Present & The Possible, which presented 250 examples of Bubbles' finished artworks as part of the exhibition White Noise at the 23rd International Poster & Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont, France.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cig-chaumont.com/fr/cig/page/festival-international-de-laffiche-et-du-graphisme/expositions/white-noise-quand-le-graphisme-fait-du-bruit |title=CIG - Chaumont |publisher=Cig-chaumont.com |access-date=28 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802184020/http://www.cig-chaumont.com/fr/cig/page/festival-international-de-laffiche-et-du-graphisme/expositions/white-noise-quand-le-graphisme-fait-du-bruit |archive-date=2 August 2014 }}</ref>

Under the heading Génération Bubbles!, the cover and a 10-page feature in the July 2012 issue of French design magazine ''[[Étapes]]'' were dedicated to the exhibition and Bubbles' influence over contemporary design practice.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etapes.com/generation-bubbles |title=Actualité / Génération Bubbles ! / étapes: design & culture visuelle |publisher=Etapes.com |date=23 May 2014 |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190414/http://etapes.com/generation-bubbles |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2017 Gorman curated "Optics & Semantics", an exhibition which included furniture designed by Bubbles, at central London's Rob Tufnell Gallery<ref>{{cite web |last=Tufnell |first=Rob |title=Preview: Barney Bubbles: 'Optics and Semantics' |url=https://www.artmap.london/event/preview-barney-bubbles-optics-and-semantics |access-date=7 August 2022}}</ref> as well as a show featuring finished artworks including record sleeves, posters and ephemera at casualwear brand [[Fred Perry]]'s outlet in [[Covent Garden]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Woodward |first=Daisy |date=20 July 2017 |title=The Man Who Changed the Face of Album Artwork |url=https://www.anothermanmag.com/life-culture/9958/the-man-who-changed-the-face-of-album-artwork-barney-bubbles |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Another Man}}</ref>

In 2020 an archive of Bubbles work was acquired for public collections under the UK's cultural gifts and acceptance in lieu (AiL) schemes and allocated to [[Liverpool John Moores University]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/dec/21/punk-artist-barney-bubbles-joins-manet-among-works-given-to-uk-public-in-2020 | title=Punk artist Barney Bubbles joins Manet among works given to UK public in 2020 | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=21 December 2020 }}</ref>

==General and group exhibitions==
Designs by Barney Bubbles have been prominently featured in many exhibitions, including ''Destroy: Punk Graphic Design in Britain'', held at London's [[Southbank Centre]] in 1998, ''Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties'', staged at the [[Barbican Centre]] in 2004,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=3729 |title=Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties |publisher=Barbican |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927175233/http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=3729 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die: Punk Graphics 1976 - 1986'' at [[Cranbrook Art Museum]] in Michigan in 2017<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Too Fast to Live, Too Young to die: Punk Graphics, 1976–1986 |url=https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/too-fast-live-too-young-die |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=museum of arts and design}}</ref> and the Museum of Art & Design in New York in 2019<ref name=":0" /> and ''Torn Apart: Punk New Wave and the Graphic Aftermath 1976-86'' at the [[Pacific Design Center]] in Los Angeles in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |first= |date=19 April 2022 |title=Torn Apart at PDC Design Gallery |url=https://pacificdesigncenter.com/events/blakehaus-at-pdc-design-gallery/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714132446/https://pacificdesigncenter.com/events/blakehaus-at-pdc-design-gallery/ |archive-date=14 July 2022 |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Pacific Design Center}}</ref>

Bubbles works are in the permanent collections of [[The Museum of Modern Art]] in New York<ref>{{cite web |title=Barney Bubbles (Colin Fulcher) {{!}} MoMA |url=https://www.moma.org/artists/41288 |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=MoMA}}</ref> and London's [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], which gave prominence to a selection in its 2011 show ''Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970–1990'' <ref>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/postmodernism/postmodernism-about-the-exhibition//] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114183502/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/postmodernism/postmodernism-about-the-exhibition//|date=14 January 2012}}</ref> and the following year's ''British Design 1948–2012''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-british-design/british-design-about-the-exhibition/ |title=British Design 1948-2012: about the exhibition - Victoria and Albert Museum |date=26 November 2012 |publisher=Vam.ac.uk |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113112924/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-british-design/british-design-about-the-exhibition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Barney Bubbles Estate==
Representing family members, the Barney Bubbles Estate<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barney Bubbles |url=https://barneybubbles.com/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Barney Bubbles |language=en-GB}}</ref> controls the intellectual copyrights in hundreds of original designs by Bubbles and has worked with others to ensure that the designer's legacy is protected.

Projects include a capsule collection of shirts bearing Bubbles designs with Fred Perry in 2017,<ref>{{cite web |last=Cole |first=Sam |date=4 August 2017 |title=Fred Perry Launches Exhibition & Collab Celebrating the Late Barney Bubbles 75th Birthday |url=https://www.complex.com/style/2017/08/fred-perry-barney-bubbles |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=[[Complex Networks]]}}</ref> Elvis Costello and [[Universal Music]]'s 2020 box-set reissue of Costello's 1979 album ''Armed Forces'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Armed Forces - Super Deluxe Edition Box Set |url=https://shop.udiscovermusic.com/products/elvis-costello-the-attractions-armed-forces-super-deluxe-edition-box-set |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=udiscovermusic}}</ref> the 12-inch vinyl rerelease of "[[Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick]]" for [[Record Store Day#2021|Record Store Day 2021]] with the Ian Dury Estate and music group BMG and a collaboration of four T-shirts with New York streetwear label [[Noah]] in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://hypebeast.com/2022/2/noah-barney-bubbles-collab-release-info | title=NOAH Releases a Limited Capsule Celebrating the Works of Barney Bubbles | date=25 February 2022 }}</ref>

Examples of rare and hitherto unseen work from Bubbles' vast archive is posted regularly on the Estate's Instagram account,<ref>{{cite web |title=Barney Bubbles Estate (@barney_bubbles_estate) • Instagram photos and videos |url=https://www.instagram.com/barney_bubbles_estate/?hl=en |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=[[Instagram]]}}</ref> and the Estate also has an online shop marketing original designs on apparel and other media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barney Bubbles - Shop |url=https://shop.barneybubbles.com/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Barney Bubbles}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* http://www.barneybubbles.com The official Barney Bubbles website
* {{discogs artist|1651454}}
* [http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=1296 Barney Bubbles: Artist and Designer.] Career overview by graphic designer [[John Coulthart]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025081919/http://www.briangriffin.co.uk/other.php?pg_id=59 Brian Griffin on Barney Bubbles.] Tribute by friend and photographer [[Brian Griffin (photographer)|Brian Griffin]].
* [http://davidwills.wordpress.com/tag/barney-bubbles/ David Wills Tells Tales.] Anecdotal Barney Bubbles blog by friend and fellow student, designer David Wills.
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wh7h In Search of Barney Bubbles, BBC Radio 4] Documentary by Mark Hodkinson.
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/philm/barney/ Philm Freax: Barney Bubbles: In Memoriam.] A memorial page by friend and photographer Phil Franks.
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/philm/friends/barney.html Philm Freax: Friends: Barney Bubbles] Includes Phil Franks' photos and text extracts from "Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961-'71" by [[Jonathon Green]].

{{UK underground}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bubbles, Barney}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Whitton, London]]
[[Category:English designers]]
[[Category:English music video directors]]
[[Category:Psychedelic artists]]
[[Category:Artists who died by suicide]]
[[Category:English album-cover and concert-poster artists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:People with bipolar disorder]]
[[Category:1983 suicides]]
[[Category:Suicides by gas]]
[[Category:Suicides in Islington]]