RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL: ART, POP, FASHION AND THE MAKING OF ROXY MUSIC, 1953 - 1972
MICHAEL BRACEWELL Author
Date/Time: 28th February 2008, 17:30
TO HEAR A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE
In his recent book 'Re-make/Re-model', Michael Bracewell charts the creation by Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music - a group in which ideas and ideals from the world of fine art would be fused with rhythm and blues, electronic improvisation, psychedelic rock, and an impassioned nostalgia for the glamour of Hollywood to create an audaciously original and instantly successful pop phenomenon.
Beginning with Ferry's education as a student of Fine Art at Newcastle University during the middle years of the 1960s, Michael Bracewell's illustrated lecture will describe the extraordinary constellation of individuals, events and circumstances that would later lead Ferry to say of Roxy Music that the group was, "above all, a state of mind."
"The importance of British art schools as breeding grounds for pop talent (from John Lennon to Jarvis Cocker) has long been acknowledged. Bracewell’s book is the first to tackle the reasons why, exploring the complicated exchange of ideas that turned art students such as Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno into pop musicians, and converted the other more musically oriented members of Roxy Music into art rockers. More of a cultural inventory of postwar Britain than an exercise in band hagiography, ReMake/ReModel works as a secret history of the domestic pop scene – as well as explaining how utterly alien it is to America’s."
(Robert Sandall, 'The Sunday Times' - Books of the year 2007)
Michael Bracewell is the author of six novels and three works of non-fiction, including his account of Englishness in popular culture, 'England Is Mine'. He writes extensively on modern and contemporary art and culture for 'Frieze' magazine, and has written catalogue texts for many contemporary artists, including most recently Gilbert & George, Glenn Brown and Jamie Shovlin. His account of the formation of Roxy Music, 'Re-make/Re-model' was published last year by Faber & Faber.