Bruce Pennington exhibition at the Atlantis Bookshop

Well, much excitement at Allumination Towers as the other day I met Bruce Pennington! Even more excitingly, the Atlantis Bookshop will be hosting a major retrospective of his art in July and August. The exhibition catalogue website is now live, and stunning! There’s also going to be an interview with him in the next ForteanContinue reading “Bruce Pennington exhibition at the Atlantis Bookshop”

Psychedelia, empire and Matt Berry’s badger

  If there’s one thing that Matt Berry’s ‘The Badger’s Wake’ (available on the the excellent album ‘Witchazel’) has been helping me think about, it’s how deeply English psychedelia is rooted in nostalgia. From Richard Dadd on, it’s been about looking backwards as much as forwards. Again and again, key visionaries have gone diving intoContinue reading “Psychedelia, empire and Matt Berry’s badger”

Carry On’s lavatorial masterpiece

Well, it’s been a quiet August on the blogging front, partially because work’s been very hectic (in particular, some fascinating drug legalisation crusading – more details here), partially because my tech time has gone on other projects (which should lead to major changes to the blog this autumn – watch this space, as they say),Continue reading “Carry On’s lavatorial masterpiece”

J. G. Ballard, 1930-2009

What is there to say? He showed us strange, alien worlds,  and then we’d look around and realise that we already lived in them. It was a bleak privilege to be a part of the culture he was dissecting, and thus receive his writing in the most direct, most living way possible. There’s much moreContinue reading “J. G. Ballard, 1930-2009”

250 years of eternity

Well, I seem to be moving to a weekly publishing schedule, but not this week – because today Allumination is celebrating one of its heroes. Because yesterday was the 250th anniversary of William Blake’s birth, and so today I’m just going to genuflect. Why? Well, HE’S WILLIAM BLAKE!!!!! Perhaps the greatest graphic artist we –Continue reading “250 years of eternity”