Yesterday morning the clarion call went out on the Foxx Network that I pay attention to: Rocket 88 Books have announced a second John Foxx book; this one dedicated to the man’s visual art. Given his art college background, his talents in the fields of illustration and graphic design have been prodigious over the decades. From the very first Ultravox! releases, all the way to the present the tireless Foxx [sometimes in his non-Rock guise of Dennis Leigh] has created striking visual images in illustration, collage and of late, sculpture.

I have maintained for years that Foxx’s design for the third Ultravox album, “Systems Of Romance” was an exceptionally strong influence on the young Peter Saville; himself an Ultravox fan. All the hallmarks of the High Saville style were there: classical serif typography, a penchant for graphic deconstruction, the Foxxian detached formalism. And “Systems Of Romance” even dared to use stock imagery decades before it was acceptable on rock album covers; finally used by Saville on the Electronic and New Order singles of the early 90s.

The 224 page monograph begins at the artist’s days in art college and features a collection of projects that Foxx has written an accompanying narrative for, discussing the work even as the whole package has been designed by his trusted designer of the last 14 years, Jonathan Barnbrook. Who has been the only artist the typically self-reliant Foxx has ever entrusted with the task of designing his various projects. And like Saville, Barnbrook was a young musician-slash-proto-designer caught up in the throes of Ultravox fandom in the late 70s.

Foxx covered a lot of ground in his various careers as: musician, graphic designer, sculptor, photographer, and illustrator. When the time came in the mid 80s for him to step away from an industry he no longer felt a connection to, he vanished from the world of music to retreat back into his own skin [he just rented Foxx’s] and spend his time creating graphic design work for various book publishers under his own name and also teaching. Eventually hearing the siren call after a dozen years and roaring back with gusto by 1997 with two albums at once, which soon gave way to a damburst of music since then.

I’m excited as a graphic designer to see things in the book like the mechanical art for press advertisements for his 1985 opus, “In Mysterious Ways;” showing that Foxx was hands-on way past the cover art level of most Rock dilettantes. Some of the work as below shows off visual concepts that are almost too grandiose to achieve in reality. Illustrated there by drawings or computer image mockups.

Foxx had only picked up sculpture a mere decade ago, but it’s been a field where he has done much concentration. Citing the excessively abstract means of creating most other forms of art via computers which had driven him to something physical and visceral. To get one’s hands dirty again. I can certainly relate to that. I find myself in my golden years imagining my own long delayed return to creating artwork physically once more as I did throughout my youth, before the computers started whispering in my ears. To draw for its own sake once more instead of it always being applied to some other task.

TWO EDITIONS

The standard edition is a hardcover in a hardcover edition with a debossed cover featuring the red “Endlessly II” cover art and foil stamping. Those who pre-order within the early timeframe will have their names in the book as sponsors.

The deluxe edition has a completely different, also debossed, foil stampred cover, based on the classic “Slow Motion” black single sleeve. The book is signed by Foxx. It also comes with the foil stamped slipcase and the signed art print as shown at the head of the posting. Both editions are published on June 21st and those interested may sign up and get the sales information when it is released. For signing up, it also comes with a 10% discount premium to the [as yet unreleased] selling price. So I’ve already registered my interest for that black-sheathed beauty. Now it’s your turn…you know the drill…DJ hit that button!

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