Interview 1998

 - this interview was originally conducted in 1998

Imagine an attractive, Dutch - style tall London town house with a functional artists' studio, crammed with all the necessary requisite artistic paraphernalia; current and on-going designs, paintings, sketches and notes. Add to this a typically strong smell of oil paints and turps and you have some idea of George Underwood's busy studio. George's bright and airy garret is situated at the top of his comfortable Crouch End home. It's an inspiring and relaxing environment.

Having fallen into illustration in the mid 60s he has produced literally thousands of book covers, LP and CD sleeves, adverts, portraits, sculptures and drawings. He has often exhibited his work in impressive one-man shows and group exhibitions and has now overseen the launch of his own web site, which is an ideal place to keep up with his exhibition plans and latest work. So the Internet was a good place to start this conversation..

"I really like the immediacy of the Internet. Sometimes it takes years for people to see what I have been working on. By the time they are exhibited, I have probably moved on in theme and style. So my web site helps display my work almost before it's dry.

"Our conversation mainly centres on George's artistic career and provides a useful introduction to this site and its contents.

When did you first consider becoming an artist and did you always hope to become an illustrator?

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to draw or pick up a paintbrush, but to actually consider it as a career - probably when I was about 13, and then it was 'commercial art' or 'illustration' because the belief was that there was no money to be made in just 'painting', although THAT was what I really wanted to do all along - just draw and paint and be good at it."

Who were your early artistic heroes, and what do you feel about them as artists today?

"My first artistic hero was Salvador Dali, although I do remember when I first went to Beckenham Art school, mentioning this to a senior fellow student and being scorned at. His remark being - 'havn't you ever heard of Cezanne? Well I have now , and like his paintings as well, thank you very much. incidentally, last year I did go and visit Dali's house for the first time and it reinforced my original belief that he was truly awe inspiring."

There was a time when a solo musical career would have taken you away from art. Would you have preferred a musical career rather than a purely artistic one?

"At the time it seemed like a good idea - make some money from a few hit records - and paint to my heart's content. Well, that was the idea, in reality it isn't quite that easy of course. Anyway, I suffered a mental breakdown in the middle of it all, so nobody will ever know what might have been."

What was your first art related job?

"I was 19 years old, just left college and took my portfolio round to show a few people. One of them was an Artist's Agent called Brian Colmer. After ploughing through all my boring college projects they asked if I had anything else. Strangely enough I did. "At the back of my folder I kept some personal drawings which were rather grotesque, weird even, which I kept hidden because they weren't everybody's cup of tea. Hey Presto! They thought the images were perfect for two horror paperback covers. One was titled The Premature Burial (see book covers) and the other was called The Cold Embrace - unfortunately no copies of this exist now. They were collections of horror stories, and they were my first two jobs for which I got paid 30 guineas each. I showed the printed covers to one of my college tutors. She used to tell me to spend more time on my college projects and less time on those horrible drawings. Shows how wrong you can be."

A lot of your most recent work is in oils, have you always worked in this medium?

"No, I started painting in oils around 1972 (see Tryptych under 'paintings' page 4) but my first oil painting for a job was The Man Who Fell To Earth book jacket."

A painting you featured in your solo About Face exhibition a few years back...

"Yes, it's one of my favourites of David, and David now owns it. He loaned it back to me for the show."

Were you encouraged to go into art by your family or did they want a different career for you?

 

"I am not quite sure what my parents would have liked me to be, but they didn't discourage me from going to Art college and supported me through thick and thin while I was there. I suppose they were hoping that someday I would make a decent living out of Art, although I don't think they were totally convinced that I could."

We briefly spoke about your singing career. You released at least one single of your own and did some solo TV appearances didn't you, after your stint with David in the King Bees?

"That's right, I got a five year recording contract with Micky Most way back in 1964. My co-manager was Peter Grant who went on to manage Led Zeppelin.

I went under the name of Calvin James and released one single titled 'Some Things You Never Get Used To', originally recorded by Irma Thomas and written by Van McCoy. Peter Grant had lined up several TV appearances for me. I appeared on Thank Your Lucky Stars but a lot of the others backed out because there was talk of Cilla Black releasing a version of the song around the same time, which never happened, but put the block on my TV shows. Micky Most tried to find a hit record for me, but I suffered a major breakdown thanks to some kind soul who spiked my drink with LSD. So that was the end of my music career.

 

How important was Bromley Tech to your future career?

"When I went to Bromley Tech it had just been built, therefore it had no previous history as such. The history of that school began with us and everyone there in 1958. In the third year we were divided up into 'streams'- languages, technical, engineering etc and of course Art, wonderful Art. The Art stream meant doing less academic subjects and spending more time doing woodwork and lots of Art. Marvellous!

Our Art teacher was Owen Frampton. He had experience as a graphic designer and guided us through the various skills of drawing, painting, graphics and typography, very similar to a foundation course at Art college. Mr Frampton's aim was for us all to leave the Art stream with 'A' level Art and a portfolio of high standard work. He would even arrange job interviews for us with Ad Agencies, and nine times out of ten the people we showed our work to were impressed. In my case, the Art director I went to see was so impressed he told me to go to Art college. The job I was going for was a 'Junior Visualisor', which basically meant 'dogs-body' for at least a year, then work your way up. When he asked me what I wanted to be, I boldly answered 'an illustrator'. 'Sorry, we don't have a vacancy for an illustrator at the moment'. He said, which totally threw me. Anyway, we got talking and he thought Art college would be the the best direction for me to take. So that's what I did. You could say that Owen Frampton was more important to me than the school itself, but it was a package deal."

What is your view of the contemporary art scene and in particular, artists regularly making the news like Tracey Emin, the Chapman brothers and of course, Damien Hurst?

"The contemporary Art scene....mmm.
Tracey Emin: Correct me if I am wrong, but all she seems to be doing is taking her dirty knickers down in public. Personally, I don't get it. It doesn't set me on fire. There again, she probably wouldn't like my stuff either.
(since then I have changed my mind about Tracey Emin and have found her work to be much more fascinating than I first thought). The Chapman Brothers: I prefer Goya, but they do have a certain charm.
Damien Hurst: Lucky bastard!
You have to keep remembering what someone once said: 'Art is just short for Arthur'."

Science fiction has played a large part in your illustration. Which authors have you illustrated covers for the most?

"Science Fiction? Not really, horror more like. I have done so many horror book covers, mostly for Brian Lumley."

It's very well known that you have worked on LP sleeves for Bowie and Bolan. Which other bands and artists have you created sleeves for over the years?

"Not that many really. I was very fond of a band called 'The Fixx' and still like the cover I did for Reach The Beach. They were a British band who were massive in America but never made it big in the U.K. Quite unusual. The most recent one was for a group called The Driven. The portrait I did of Marc Bolan for Acoustic Warrior..I think Marc would have liked that. Shame the record was such crap."

What do you remember most about Marc?

"I remember the very first time we met at Tony Visconti's flat in Earls Court with David. The most memorable thing was that Marc and June Child sat on the floor crossed legged, staring continually into each others eyes for what seemed like ages. Very cosmic. I used to see him on and off over this period but then he became a big star and we drifted apart until he asked me to do his Futuristic Dragon sleeve, not long before his death.

Actually, I tell a lie. I had met Marc previously to that night at Tony's flat. It was in the Giaconda coffee bar in Denmark Street. He told me later that he thought that I was a bit of a star because he had seen me as Calvin James on Thank Your Lucky Stars."

One of your themes is, for want of a better description, collections of heads and faces, like the Sopranos. They seem to come from different era's and backgrounds. Where did the inspiration come from for these and how many have you done?

"Well, if you remember, which you will of course because you helped me organise it, the title of my '97 show was called About Face. Although that show mostly dealt with REAL people,ie portraits of musicians, I am still concerned with faces, but in a more imaginary way. I have no idea where they come from, or what era, apart from The Sopranos which obviously harks back to my time in St Mary's church choir in Bromley, although they had blue cassocks. I have painted about fifteen so far. Most of them are sold. Another choir boy was David Jones of course..."

Faces would seem to be the main recurring theme in your artwork...

"Yes, I seem to have come full circle and returned to imaginary faces. The first oil painting I did (see tryptych) was imaginary faces, but way before that when I first picked up a pencil I remember always drawing faces with different expressions and lots of profiles.""Warriors, men in helmets and armour seem to reappear as well (see Warrior 1 & At Ease). There are more subtle recurring themes, but can you spot them? I do remember when I was very young drawing faces with my finger on the steamed-up kitchen window. There was one particular face which I called 'Joey'. He was a friendly alien, and he became my secret friend. I havn't drawn him for a while, but give me a steamy window and I will show him to you."

Postscript:

Whilst researching this feature and looking for bits and pieces, George has since found the original artwork for The Cold Embrace, the second of first two book cover commissions mentioned earlier in the interview.The cover will feature in the next part of this interview, along with other unpublished and rare pictures from George's archive.