photography; Brian Usher
Steven Thomas enrolled at Chelsea School of Art as a painter in 1962; considering a school career in the sciences & the only previous artistic success being first prize in the national Fry’s Chocolate Painting Competition, the foresight of principal Sir Lawrence Gowing was astonishing.
Being taught by John Hoyland, Patrick Caulfield & Allen Jones was a great early influence, along with David Hockney & Peter Blake & working in the rock’n’roll business in the sixties; then beginning a highly successful career in design after working for a while with Binder Edwards & Vaughan, the rock ‘n’roll painters/designers, (Dandie Fashions shopfront, Beatles’ pianos & furniture to the stars).
Having spent a few decades with Whitmore-Thomas, as co-founder & creative director of the design group, traveling the globe working on an extraordinary array of truly iconic projects (from Biba to Paul McCartney,from London Transport to Subaru World Rally team) but it’s now away from the drawing board & back to his roots.
Steven Thomas has amalgamated all these formative influences from painting, particularly pop art, design craft & rock’n’roll in his recent image making, producing several new suites of prints.
images from left:
Empress 1 + model / Dandie Fashions shopfront / Biba Cosmetics Poster 1