After blowing us away with the planetarium show last week, we didn’t think there was much else to share on Strictly Kev’s new DJ Food album, The Search Engine. Last night, however, we were lucky to be invited down to a new exhibition opening, where Henry Flint was displaying the sketches, concepts and artwork behind the aesthetic of the album, promo and show.
Already a hero to us graphic novel fans from his classic work on 2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd, Henry Flint took over the gallery with original sketches from his past comic work, unseen creations and ideas based on his new(ish) book Broadcast: The TV Doodles Of Henry Flint, as well as the DJ Food workings. There were even one-off Serato plates in frames (each unique) for sale, graced with the DJ Food designs from him and Kev. The gallery was heaving (free beer + East London art gallery = hipster contest) but the DJs were good and the exhibition stunning, bringing back memories from my first appreciations of Henry’s work and early listenings of Ninja Tune.
The exhibition’s on over at one of (if not) our favourite London spots, The Pure Evil Gallery, running from now until the 12th of Feb, till 6pm each day.
Big ups to all involved, flyer and more info below.
An exhibition of artwork from DJ Food’s album ‘The Search Engine’ and Henry Flint’s book ‘Broadcast’. Original art, photos, limited edition prints and postcard records, sound installation and more…
DJ Food, aka Strictly Kev, has read the British sci-fi comic 2000ad, home of Judge Dredd, since he was 8 years old. He’s also been collecting original art from it for over a decade and a large proportion of his collection is the work of one man – Henry Flint. Studying at Falmouth University, Henry has worked in comics since the early 90’s – mostly for the anthology title 2000ad but also for US publishers like Marvel, DC and Vertigo. He slowly refined his craft and became a fan favourite with his ultra-detailed storytelling, seemingly able to combine several different styles from the comic’s first golden age in the 80’s alongside his own distinctive pen work. He has drawn many of the comic’s main characters, including Judge Dredd, as well as created his own characters Shakara and Zombo with fellow script writers. One of his latest illustrations graces the cover of a collection of Alan Moore’s short stories, first published in the title in the 80’s.
Upon buying some art from Henry a few years ago, Kev discovered several postcards with crazed characters and abstracts included in the package, promotion for a small local exhibition in Exeter of Henry’s ‘doodles’. The images were exactly what he had been looking for as the starting point for the artwork on a series of EPs he was making, later to form an album on Ninja Tune. Henry sent a stack of images for Kev to pick from and gave him permission to colour them for the artwork, which were issued as foldout poster covers on three 12″ EPs.
By the time the album was ready to be compiled Kev had a solid visual direction and commissioned Henry to draw “a cosmonaut, hanging in space, strapped into an unfeasibly large backpack, the kind you could only wear in zero gravity”. The result became the cover of ‘The Search Engine’. Coupled with press shots of Kev in a replica astronaut suit, shot by photographer Will Cooper-Mitchell, this completed a sci-fi theme with Kev’s colours fleshing out the black and white line drawings. Incidentally, since the start of the collaboration, Henry was approached by a publisher with a view to compiling these drawings into a book, which has just been published under the title ‘Broadcast’ by Aam Markosia.
The exhibition will feature lots of original Flint artwork including drawings and elements used to create most of the artwork surrounding the album as well as comic pages from Kev’s personal collection. Cooper-Mitchell photos will be on display as well and high quality signed giclee prints will be available to buy as well as a limited edition postcard record made specially for the show. Kev’s love of psychedelic art will also be in evidence with typographic mandalas, zoetrope discs and unique splatter vinyl DJ controller records on display to complete the picture. An audio visual installation in the basement, based around the album, will also be present.