Punk and Beyond Art Show (Curated by Gaye Advert)

Following the success of last year’s ‘Beyond Punk’ art show, which included works by well known punk musicians including Adam Ant, Poly Styrene, Youth and Steve Ignorant, its curator Gaye Black (better known as Gaye Advert of The Adverts) has put together another show of work to celebrate the enduring creative force of punk.

'Punk and Beyond’ runs from 25th November to 17th December, and will enjoy the luxury of a new bigger gallery space at the Signal Gallery (near Old Street, London), which of course means more artists and more artwork than last year's show.

The list of those former punks showing work is also more varied this year. Alongside art by well-known UK punk stars including Paul Simonon, Marco Pirroni, Penny Rimbaud and Charlie Harper, you can expect to see work by US musicians Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) and Marl Mothersbaugh (Devo).

The exhibition will also include a number of specially commissioned artworks that pay tribute to Poly Styrene who sadly lost her battle with cancer earlier this year.

To add to all this, over the four Saturday nights that the show runs, there will be live performances by a number of the musicians included in the show. Watch this space for more details of these.

Here’s a list of some of those showing:

GAYE BLACK (ADVERTS)
BEN BROWTON (THE SHAPES)
BILLY CHILDISH (POP RIVETS/MILKSHAKES/HEADCOATS/BUFF MEDWAYS/etc)
BEN EDGE (THEE SPIVS)
RAY GANGE (CLASH DJ)
GRANT HART (HUSKER DU)
JOWE HEAD (SWELL MAPS/TELEVISION PERSONALITIES)
ROBYN HITCHCOCK (SOFT BOYS)
BRON JONES (EVE LIBERTINE/CRASS)
DICK LUCAS (SUBHUMANS/CITIZEN FISH)
THURSTON MOORE (SONIC YOUTH)
MARK MOTHERSBAUGH (DEVO)
CHRISTIAN PARIS (WIRE/THE BEARS)
SAVAGE PENCIL (THE ART ATTACKS)
MARCO PIRRONI (SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES/ADAM & THE ANTS)
ROBERT POLLARD (GUIDED BY VOICES)
JAMIE REID
NICK REYNOLDS (ALABAMA 3)
PENNY RIMBAUD (CRASS)
PAUL SIMONON (THE CLASH)
TOM SPENCER (THE LURKERS)

POLY STYRENE TRIBUTE PORTRAITS:
CHRIS BRIEF (THE BRIEFS)
CHARLIE HARPER (UK SUBS)
KNOX (THE VIBRATORS)

PHOTOGRAPHY:
IAN DICKSON
JILL FURMANOVSKY
RAY STEVENSON

RIP Poly Styrene

I'm in a different time zone at the the moment, so I woke up this morning to the sad news that Poly Styrene finally lost her battle with breast cancer. She was 53. Inspired by her recent record release and press coverage, I recently blogged about how much Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex means to me; how Oh Bondage! was the first punk record that I remember hearing; and how it inspired me to want to hear more punk rock. Unfortunately, I was too young to see X-Ray Spex back in the day, but I was lucky enough to get the chance to see their one-off show reunion gig at the Roundhouse in 2008.

When I get home I will be playing Germfree Adolescents, which I still remember buying, initially on cassette, and my collection of the band's 7 inches including The Day The World Turned Day-Glo and Warrior In Woolworths, both of which I still recall receiving in the post from Small Wonder.

Poly's daughter, Celeste Bell-Dos Santos, and her band, supported X-Ray Spex at the Roundhouse in 2008, as did John Robb's band Goldblade. Robb was a friend of Poly's and he shares his personal memories and pays tribute to her at his Louder Than War website, here.

http://www.rock-til-you-drop-blog.com/2011/03/listen-to-poly-styrenes-new-single.html

Listen to Poly Styrene's new single

Way back in 1979, aged 12, after having heard Oh Bondage!Up Yours! at a friend of the family's house, I spotted a cassette copy of Germfree Adolescence in the discounted music bin in the record department of Debenhams in Guildford. This bargain-and-some inspired me to send off for all the X-Ray Spex singles. I eventually replaced my worn out cassette copy of the LP with a vinyl one, and when I discovered Poly Styrene also had a solo album, I made sure I got a copy of that too.

On 28th March Poly Styrene releases her new solo album 'Generation Indigo'. It is produced by Youth (also The Verve, Killing Joke, Edwyn Collins), and above is the video for the new single Virtual Boyfriend.

For more details and to pre-order the LP, go to: www.poly-styrene.com