The Paula’s crew photo – Toni Riera from Pache – El balle 1966-1993 / Miguel Trillo – 1982 / Alchimia Milano – 1985
While some might argue that newsfeeds on social media and Whatsapp text messages on their iPhones are the only things kids read these days, Lawrence believes Instagram has contributed to the cultural conversation and simply reflects modern life in the western world. “Many of my best regulars are kids and they find me on Instagram! Like anybody else, I am always on my telephone. It’s culturally rich. It can also be a huge distraction and that’s a problem I don’t know how to solve yet, but text messages and news feeds are certainly not the enemy.”
In a technologically obsessed contemporary culture, plenty has been said about the demise of print media. Its progress is often thought to be sluggish, and its forecast, discouragingly gloomy. However, Lawrence resolutely refutes the popular “print is dying/dead” claim. “People still enjoy printed media, and seem happy to pay for it too. Books satisfy an enquiring mind in a way that no other media has yet accomplished. Books and paper artefacts are also scraps and traces of time, and the Internet can only ever be a reproduction of one.” Well said, and we couldn’t agree more.
Here, Lawrence shares his top five favourite publications that live in boxes under his bed (“Being surrounded by them all day makes me rather allergic to the sight of them at home!”).
Jean Christophe Ammann – Transformer – 1975
Transformer explored cross dressing and blurring gender roles in fine art and popular culture. Amman got together, what is retrospectively a dream cross section of artists and cultural practitioners: The Cockettes, Luciano Castelli, Katharina Sieverding, Klauke, Walter Pfeiffer, The New York Dolls, Eno, Bowie, Jagger and Candy Darling. What a dream!
