Colin Fulcher (1942-1983) aka Barney Bubbles was the man behind many iconic album sleeves of the 70s and 80s.
But unlike his contemporary greats such as Pete Saville, Malcolm Garrett, Hipgnosis (Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell) or Roger Dean, the London-born graphic artist almost never signed his work, operating anonymously for most of his life, only occasionally under different pseudonyms.
The Barney Bubbles for Stiff Records exhibition is centered around five kingsize silkscreened portraits (photos by Chris Gabrin) of the five lead performers of the record label’s autumn tour of 1977. They were made to be sold on the tour, but the size worked against them. Together, the five Live Stiff posters mark a particular high point in Bubbles career.
At 4pm on Monday October 3, 1977 – dreary autumn rain tipped down on an assortment of musicians as they scampered from the Stiff offices to Trevor Wiffen’s waiting green Ford coach. Philippa Thomas was at the hub of the activity in the office, making phone calls and rushing to and fro with last minute messages for the departing crew. Dave Edmunds held his suitcase above his head to avoid a soaking and made a mad dash for the coach doors as it prepared to leave. Stiff’s Greatest Stiffs were about to be unleashed on the British public and the sense of anticipation at Alexander Street was palpable. It would prove an explosive affair, both on and off stage. A self financed documentary If it ain’t Stiff it ain’t worth a f**k was filmed by Nick Abson but never cleared by the artists nor seen back in the days. Today a much talked about legend, we got a rare, rather poor and of course highly illegal copy which will be screened in the gallery.
Not for everyone of course, but unbelievably entertaining.
