Derek Boshier: ‘I think I’ve turned from pop artist to popularist’

The artist rails against technology and right-wing newspapers, tells of his aspirations to create an entire exhibition in one day, and shares some – at times almost side-splitting – stories from his colourful career

Derek Boshier (b1937) came to prominence as one of a generation of pop artists emerging from the Royal College of Art in the early 70s. He left the UK soon after for Texas, initially to teach for one semester, but ultimately remaining there for 13 years, before moving to Los Angeles, where he now resides. Boshier has embraced a variety of media, most recently adopting the iPad as his at-the-ready tool for capturing images and ideas, which go on to become parts of his films and works on paper – all of which the artist describes as “collages”.

Boshier is associated with a number of great musicians and has produced imagery for, among others, the Clash and David Bowie. His falling man motif used in the design for Bowie’s 1979 LP Lodger has become iconic, as have many of his other images.

The current exhibition at Flowers Gallery shows sketches for much of Boshier’s songbook and LP graphic design work, as well as some of his early photographic series and spoofs of right-wing national newspapers. Recent collages, with thick black outlines, contrast with earlier ones, confronting consumerism and the dehumanising effect of mass culture. A film from 1973 plays on a loop with three films from 2014, made after he rediscovered the earlier work and decided to retry his hand at that medium.

Rethink/Re-entry is co-curated by Paul Gorman, who is also the editor of a new publication of the same name, presenting an overview of Boshier’s work, accompanied by essays by leading academics, critics and curators, as well as a foreword by David Hockney.

Derek Boshier: Rethink/Re-entry
Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London
7 October – 7 November 2015

Derek Boshier: Rethink/Re-entry is published by Thames & Hudson, priced £29.95/$50.00.

Interview by ANNA McNAY
Filmed by MARTIN KENNEDY