Robert Rankin, pictured top left, as member of 'Plasma Jets' group
Robert Rankin (vocals), Nick D'Aubney (drums)
Phil Cowan (guitar) Paul Mason (lead guitar)
Robert
Rankin studied at
Ealing School of Art, where he was a contemporary of singer Freddie
Mercury
and illustrator Alan Lee. Of his many jobs, he worked as a graphic
artist for Forum magazine, and also for an erotic publication for
whom he illustrated readers letters. He also illustrated a book
about The Beatles' song lyrics, called 'Behind the Beatles Songs'.
After his portfolio was stolen he abandoned the
idea of working as a professional illustrator, but instead became a successful published author, starting with a trilogy, 'The Antipope', 'Brentford Triangle' and 'East of Ealing'. In fact he created the
sculptures which feature on some of his book covers, many of which were
on display at The Collection, a gallery in Lincoln during September
2010. Some of these works were previously exhibited in Waterstones,
Brighton, and at Gunnersbury Park Museum in 2007-8.
In 2009 Robert was
commissioned by his publisher to provide a series of new illustrations
for his back catalogue of books (from The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of
the Apocalypse to the present), he also created new internal
illustrations for The Brightonomicon, Retromancer and The Japanese
Devil
Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions.
A cartoon by Robert "The Robot and the Elongated Author" was published
in Issue 13 of Murky Depths, and 2010 also saw the publication of his
first illustrated book, written by Neil Gardner: "The Bumper Book of
Ficts", which was launched on 18 September 2010 in Brentford. A limited
hard-back edition of "Empires" was launched in the UK mid-2012 which is
now sold out. In July 2013 Robert's own publishing house - Far-Fetched
Books which launched "Alice on Mars" in a limited edition of 3000; it is said that this book
is also being made into a full length feature film by award-winning
independent film-maker Martin Gooch.
Well, Robert and I are friends from way back, from when we performed in a
band together (in the 1970's as I recall),
known by various names including Aural Sexx & the Wrist Jobs,
Citizen's Arrest, and the Plasma Jets , and a while back he sent
me a copy of 'Alice'.
I
found the story really stretched my imagination (a good thing!), and
the most thought-provoking part being when a ventriloquist's dummy
proclaimed the 'Mechanical Turk' to be his daddy, with his mother
none
other than the figurehead of the Cutty Sark!!! Well, as if to prove the
point, about pushing the bounds of imagination, the illustration on the
facing page depicts them onboard ship
whilst a member of the press sits closeby creating
a misrepresentation of the unlikely
and comic looking family group, thus doing a neat job of misreporting
(nothing new here then!). So, if a picture tells a story, here is
a copy of Robert's artwork, the original of which I now have in my
collection:
Robert
Rankin - original artwork of 'Alice on Mars' page 39
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