Al Fingers and Shimmy Shimmy are bringing their Art in the Dancehall show to LA for the month of February. I will be there opening night (feb 2) to represent the Limonious massive.
The Honda S90 was a very popular bike in Jamaica in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Probably its biggest reggae reference was Big Youth‘s “S90 Skank” where the screaming target kicked off the recording by revving an S90 engine in the studio.
In my opinion the bike looks amazing. I once had a line on one to buy but had to pass on it because it would mean signing on for a lifelong project repairing it.
In one of the very first Limonious-related interviews that I had someone do for me while I was a’foreign, the legendary Derrick Harriott dropped a serious bit about Limonious and his penchant for drawing the S90.
“…Limonious had some work during these different passages of time on dancehall music. You also had the S90 era and the Dub era. All these important because at the change of intervals, new graphic images are depicted on the cover of the albums. For example, S90 Bike era, you have the small scooter bikes with persons on them being shown”
Whether the bikes on Limonious‘ covers are S90s or not is not for me to say but I can say the following: on Toyan’s “Hot Bubble Gum” it is a definitely a Honda 450, on Papa San’s “Animal Party” it is definitely insane, and on the Winston Riley’s “DJ Explosion”, it definitely ah BOOM!
Some exciting dispatches from the Art in the Dancehall exhibit happening in the UK right now care of Shimmy Shimmy and my man Al Fingers. Some Limonious pieces are featured among a huge selection of Dancehall art, including a short biography and photo of Limonious from In Fine Style.
I am really honoured and excited to be a part of this. I am very much into Tony McDermott’s new style and the recreation of Buju’s Stamina Daddy suit by Daniel David Freeman!
Enjoy the pics below (all courtesy of Al Fingers) and check out this write-up from Creative Review
I am very loosely (by way of Al Newman) contributing to this exhibit in Birmingham, UK with A tiny write-up about Limonious and a few pictures and scans from my collection.
Wish I could be there, but big ups to the UK for celebrating JA’s 50 right.
Back from Jamaica. I had a total blast. Respect to everyone that I met with and stayed with. The Limonious uncoverings were a bit lighter this time around, but the trip was well worth it. Hope to be back real soon.
Big news: I return to Jamaica in a weeks time to do some more Limonious digging. Really looking forward to tying up some loose ends and meeting with more of Wilfred’s fam.
I aslo wanted to share with you some glorious photos of a baseball glove that was customized to look like a Limonious album cover (Horace Martin’s Watermelon Man, to be specific). The paint job was done by my manJonny O, who is a wonderful artist without much internet presence (edit: not true). Here is a link to his old band though, one of the finest punk bands to come out of the prairies.
Been a bit slow over here with posts. I’ve been keeping really busy with some exciting things and some other not so exciting things.
Anyways, on to a post:
I recently met up with Limonious’ younger brother in Scarbourough Town Centre Mall where, among other things, we chatted about Wilfred’s artistic influence in the reggae jacket world. “Lotta people used to imitate him. A lot of artists would imitate him”, he told me.
Now, Limonious wasn’t the first reggae graphic designer to use cartoons as jacket covers, but he is definitely one of the more influential. This is a jacket from the Toronto-based KingCulture label designed by Ashley that makes some serious ‘Limonious-moves’. Most notably, the mice. Ohhh the mice.
My convo with Wilfred’s brother also reminded me of a this jacket that I found at last year’s WFMU record fair. A pretty blatant imitation (read: rip off) of a specific Limonious cover by a man called R. Saunders. The Limonious original follows
Wilfred Limonious: In Fine Style 