'Sex War Sex Cars Sex' (1966).
Derek Boshier was a British painter and graphic artist, best-known for his contributions to the pop art movement. Throughout his career, he changed styles and worked in different media. One time, he made a painting that resembles a comic book page: 'Sex War Sex Cars Sex' (1966), done in a Roy Lichtenstein style. Boshier also enjoys fame as a graphic designer for pop stars like The Pretty Things, The Clash and David Bowie.
Early life and career
Derek Boshier was born in 1937 in Portsmouth, England. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, where two of his fellow students were David Hockney (famous for the 1967 painting 'A Bigger Splash') and Peter Blake (who designed the cover of The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' album). After obtaining his degree, Boshier spent a year traveling through India. Inspired by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, he joined the pop art movement. In 1962, he held his first of many exhibitions all over the world. The same year, he was already notable enough to be interviewed for Ken Russell's BBC art documentary 'Pop Goes the Easel' (1962). Five years later, he appeared in another Russell TV film, 'Dante's Inferno' (1967), a biopic about poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was portrayed by Oliver Reed. Boshier had a smaller role as painter John Everett Millais.
Drawing for The Clash' second songbook (1979).
Sex, War, Sex, Cars, Sex
In 1966, Boshier made a Lichtensteinesque pop art painting which looked like a page from a comic book, 'Sex, War, Sex, Cars, Sex'. The lithograph shows a series of disconnected images of soldiers at war, while attractive women are sobbing at home. The work had a strong anti-war message and also criticized consumerism. The text in the images was written by the poet Christopher Logue.
Collaborations with The Pretty Things and The Clash
In the late 1960s, Boshier became acquainted with the English blues-rock band The Pretty Things, with whose lead singer Phil May he often played tennis. He was asked to design an album cover for them, but his artwork was never used. In the end, he was informed that the project had been scrapped. To add insult to injury, the band also lost his originals.
Boshier found more suitable collaborators when teaching art at the Central School of Art and Design in London. One of his pupils was Joe Strummer, future lead singer of the punk band The Clash. Near the end of the 1970s, when punk broke out, Boshier met the now famous Strummer again. The punk singer asked his former teacher whether he would be interested in designing and illustrating their next song lyrics book which would accompany their new album release 'Give 'Em Enough Rope' (1978). Boshier agreed and was given total creative freedom, except for one tiny detail. The punk singer wanted a nuclear warning symbol on the book cover, so Boshier combined it with a skull. Another graphic artist who once collaborated with The Clash was Steve Bell.
Artwork for David Bowie's 'Lodger'.
Collaborations with David Bowie
When visiting one of his favorite art book stores in the late 1970s, Boshier talked with the manager and he learned that none other than David Bowie had been to the shop to look for books about Boshier. The store owner had told the rock legend that the painter actually visited the shop often. Soon enough a meeting was organized: Bowie and Boshier turned out to share a love for pop art and mime. The "Chameleon of Rock" was also fascinated by a recurring motif in the artists' paintings, that of a Falling Man. Boshier eventually designed the inside sleeve of Bowie's next album 'Lodger' (1979), with a Falling Man image included. The singer returned the favor by referencing Boshier on the album cover of his later record 'Let's Dance' (1983), where Bowie can be seen shadow boxing as the Boshier painting 'A Darker Side of Houston' (1980) is projected on his chest. In 1987, the men worked together again when Boshier was asked to design stage sets for the artist's next international concert tour. Unfortunately, the sets weren't used as they were too impractical for the road crew. Other artists who designed album covers for Bowie have been Guy Peellaert and Neon Park.
Other activities
Until 1973, Derek Boshier also taught at the Hornsey College of Art, London. Between 1975 and 1979, he was an art teacher at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1980, he moved to the United States where he became a professor at the University of Houston, Texas. As pop art became less trendy, Boshier started experimenting with different styles and media, from op-art to video art. Between 1992 and 1997, Boshier lived in England again, but returned to the USA in 1997, to become a teacher at the California Institute of Arts. He lived in Los Angeles, California, until his death at age 77 in 2024.
Drawing from Boshier's "horizontal series".