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Riffs: Paul Dean

Paul Dean, collage artist and LSU instructor
On Barney Bubbles

“I am currently putting together a course on the history of album cover art and am particularly impressed by the work of Barney Bubbles, a graphic designer who was instrumental in the early British ‘New Wave’ movement. He created much of the early Elvis Costello, Ian Drury and Nick Lowe record packages, among others, usually without credit or by working under pseudonyms. I realize now that I likely became a graphic designer because of his work, which I admired as a young punk rocker, before I knew his name or even the term ‘graphic designer.’ I just thought his record covers were great. He has come to the design world’s attention recently through the publication of the book Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles, by Paul Gorman, now in its second edition.”