A retrospective exhibition of the publishing output of British artist, archivist, and ex-punk Toby Mott.

Opening reception: September 14, 6-8PM

The display collates all of Mott’s publications from 1996 to date, charting his early photocopy work, landmark overviews of subcultures such as Skinhead: An Archive and focused volumes such as Kraftwerk 45RPM and David Bowie Nacht Musik.

Other projects are also featured, namely Showboat which illustrates the visual relationship between punk and sex, and Mott’s Dictator series which explores the dark and sinister potential of absolute power.

Both the presentation and the accompanying catalogue offer a comprehensive overview of Mott’s publications showcasing a body of work that embraces subversion, transgression and the charisma of counterculture.

This display further celebrates The Mott Collection, Toby Mott’s acclaimed archive of British subcultural ephemera and the unique influence of printed material in an increasingly digitized world.

Toby Mott was born in London in 1964. He lives in Westminster. Mott is an artist renowned for his contributions to punk visual culture. With a career spanning several decades, his work explores themes of rebellion, counterculture, deviance and transgression through a range of mediums including painting, publishing and installation.

In the early 1980s Mott co-founded the Grey Organisation, an East London art collective who opposed the stagnant status quo of the establishment. The influential work of the Grey Organisation, including the infamous Cork Street attack, has been credited with reinvigorating art’s potential for subversion and critique. During this period Mott also appeared in a number of arthouse films by British director Derek Jarman, memorably The Angelic Conversation. Relocating to the United States in 1985, Mott collaborated with renowned musical artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and Public Enemy. Notably, he created the cover artwork for De La Soul’s breakthrough album 3 Feet High and Rising regarded as an iconic album cover in hip-hop history. In the late 1990s Mott launched the fashion line Toby Pimlico. The brand’s detention line slogan tees based on his artwork captured a zeitgeist of pithy pop rebellion and swiftly became a British cult classic. More recently, Mott has established the international publishing fair Cultural Traffic, a platform for social change through DIY practice.

Coming of age in the epicentre of punk, Mott began collecting posters, flyers and fanzines from punk’s inception. This early ad hoc archiving developed into The Mott Collection, an expansive personal archive of British subcultural ephemera which grew to encompass new wave, post punk, Northern Irish punk, anarcho-punk, skinhead, new romantic, warehouse, sound system, queer, acid house, rave and jungle. This unique collection has served as the basis of several acclaimed publications and exhibitions.

Mott’s multifaceted career has remained in the provocative vanguard. His iconoclastic work has been exhibited globally and continues to challenge conventional norms and inspire artistic discourse.