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Rebecca Binns

Gee Vaucher: Beyond Punk, Feminism and the Avant-Garde (Book)

LabelManchester University Press

FormatBook

GenreExperimental

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As one of the people who defined punk's protest art in the 1970s and 1980s, Gee Vaucher (b. 1945) deserves to be much better-known. She produced confrontational album covers for the legendary anarchist band Crass and later went on to do the same for Northern indie legends the Charlatans, among others. As well as offering an overview of Vaucher’s career,  the book also offers a whistle-stop tour through later 20th century counterculture. We hear about the Fluxus movement; COUM Transmissions (the collective led by Genesis P Orridge of Throbbing Gristle, who Vaucher seems to have had very little time for); the 1970s gatherings at Stonehenge; free festivals; the radical underground press; the Situationists.

More recently, her work was recognised the day after Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, when the front page of the Daily Mirror ran her 1989 painting Oh America, which shows the Statue of Liberty, head in hands. This is the first book to critically assess an extensive range of Vaucher's work. It examines her unique position connecting avant-garde art movements, counterculture, punk and even contemporary street art. While Vaucher rejects all 'isms', her work offers a unique take on the history of feminist art. The book explores how her life has shaped her output, with particular focus on the open-house collective at Dial House in Essex, a centre for radical creativity.

Details
Cat. number: 9781526147912
Year: 2023
Creative Review

“An overdue look at influential female sleeve designer Gee Vaucher”

★★★★★
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Punktuation Magazine

“Meticulously researched and well written, covering an area of punk history that deserves a full spotlight all of its own”

★★★★★
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