Great surrealist photo’s by Chema Madoz

As a director would stage actors, Allen stages his cut-outs in ways that create humor, tension, mystery, and drama. A boxer fights his own shadow in Spar, and in Bookend a gunfighter stands over his recently fallen opponent. Although the characters are freed from the closed pages of books, the books themselves still remain present in each photograph. A ship sails across the curved pages of a dictionary-sized book in Swell. In Cover, a gunman finds safety behind the spine of a book. And in Recover, a worn paperback acts as a life raft to three weathered shipwreck survivors.

In 2000 I worked briefly for Mojo Partners in Sydney. One of the most memorable moments for me was Dave Alberts (now ECD and Chairman of Grey London) giving me a book about Howard Gossage.

Howard Gossage was an incredible pioneer of thoughtful and inventive, coupon laden advertising.

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t come across him before, probably because he was overshadowed by that other sixties slacker Bill Bernbach.

Have a look at his campaign for Fina. It’s mad.

I’ve just checked out The book of Gossage on amazon. Blimey. I’m locking my copy up if I can find it.

If you can’t get your hands on a copy here’s a good link.

Last Saturday I watched one of the most funny and moving documentaries I’ve seen in a long time – Young@Heart by Stephen Walker from Walker George Films.

If you didn’t catch it, the film follows young@heart, a chorus line of senior citizens (average age 80),
rehearsing for one of their world tours.

What makes the group different is the music they cover. Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Coldplay etc.

Of course this is what makes it amusing, but it is also what makes it incredibly moving.
It’s like hearing Johny Cash singing Hurt by Ten Inch Nails. You suddenly hear the words with a clarity and emotion that only someone who has truly lived can convey.

It’s worth adding that these guys have been doing it with an ever changing lineup since the early eighties, a good 15 years before Johnny Cash.

It’s a great example of two things clashing together that shouldn’t work but does.

One of the standout moments is when they perform at a prison, where the general air is one of amusement and cynicism, only for the prisoners to end up in tears.

Another is one of the old guys singing “Fix You” by Coldplay, whilst hooked up to an oxygen tank.
He dedicated the song to a group member who was supposed to duet with him but died a few days earlier.

Young@heart is being repeated on Channel 4 at 9pm on Saturday, November 22nd, 2006.

Whilst I loved the work of Jamie Reid and the whole punk asthetic, what opened my mind with Barney’s work was his inventive use of the medium.

As with this Ian Dury & The Blockheads single for example. He didn’t just apply witty graphics to a record sleeve, he made record sleeves out of different pieces of wallpaper and screenprinted the graphics on top, making them instantly collectable, and arguably one of the best covers to define the punk era. Brilliant.