 Brian Jones - Straight Outta Toxteth |
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“ My three main influences are Jeff Nuttall, Jamie Reid, and William Burroughs, in no particular order; I’ve studied with two of them, and met the other.” Brian Jones
Bricoleur, agent provocateur, wordsmith, artist, hoaxer, and collaborator, Brian Jones is all of these and more. So who exactly is he?
Hailing from Toxteth, in Liverpool’s south end, Brian is certainly not your ’typical Scouser’, as he explains, “My family are pan-European Celtic Gypsies on both sides, with Irish, Scots, Welsh, Basque, and Hungarian branches, so my accent is a bit of an historical accident - I’m from everywhere, like the rest of us!”
Though he is fiercely defensive of his ’hometown’ - “Liverpool is a Celtic city, in that it has far more in common with Glasgow, or Dublin than London. It’s buzzing again; the press should give it a visit, it’s quite near to England!”
He held his own private revolution, developed his love of art, with his love of Punk Rock and spent everything he could get his hands on either on records, or going to gigs at Liverpool’s legendary punk club Eric’s.
He spent five years studying art and art history, gaining a degree in Fine Art at Liverpool Polytechnic. His decision to remain in the city was solely down to the fact that Jeff Nuttall (a major British Counter Culture figure in the 60’s ) ran the course; during his time there, he also met, and was tutored by Jamie Reid “The new head brought him in to tutor the ’problem students’; I asked if could I be put on the list: I was told my name was already at the top!”
Though one of ’Maggie’s millions’ throughout the eighties (“I was keeping my head down!”), his extensive four-page CV belies that fact; everything from performing to promoting to publishing to running clubs to DJing on pirate radio to exhibiting to hoaxing Liverpool Council demolition notices to pre-CJA free ’fezzies’ & …..
During this period he also began assisting and collaborating with Jamie Reid on various projects, exhibitions, and events.
Now represented by 33PM, he continues to work for the Arcova Studio, and also produces his own graphics and other works. Their most recent Arcova collaborations include works for the Punk Aid charity album, and the ArtTube 01 exhibition.
Blairman Mao
This piece, which has been produced as an edition of 50 screenprints, has been selected to appear in a British Council exhibition - “Up Front and Personal: Three Decades of UK Political Graphics” - in The Design Centre, Seoul, Korea, from 20th November 2002, and will be away for up to two years, including a visit to South Africa this Summer (2003).
’iCons’ by Brian Jones is showing as part of the Gathering Festival, at the Context Gallery, Artillery Street, Derry, between 2-12 October 2003. This will be the first solo show that he has undertaken, since destroying all his artwork in 2001, in celebration of the Real Millennium. His current ’iCons’ series of works are his artistic response to popular culture, the mass media, and the revailing global events. They have also appeared in numerous shows, and several magazines during the past twelve months.
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