Paul Roundhill Photographs - limited editions of selected prints

PAUL N. ROUNDHILL, MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST, PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER…

“Paul Ro”, “The Professor”, after leaving school Paul started out as an assistant stage manager for the last Summer Variety “Music Hall” Show at the Palace Pier Theatre on Brighton’s Palace Pier. He worked with some of the great names from that lost era including as a stooge for Rubber Neck Nat Jackley (Happy Nat in the Beatles film “Magical Mystery Tour”), fetching drinks to the dressing room of “Gert and Daisy” (Elsie and Doris Waters sisters of Jack Warner from Dixon of Dock Green) and the comedian Sandy Powell.

He studied performance and conceptual art at Epsom and Brighton art schools using photography, video and printmaking to document performances and express ideas.

He dropped out of Brighton at the end of the 2nd year and began collecting old jukeboxes and using a 35 mm SLR camera began (using a Brighton Beach photographers pass to gain admission to concerts) documenting the vibrant punk and new wave scenes in Brighton and London.

He worked for one day as an extra in the film Quadrophenia but resigned in disgust after Sting (Gordon Sumner - The Ace Face” insisted that he change from a silver mohair suit into a green corduroy jacket.

In 1984 he appeared with Patsy Kensit in the film “Absolute Beginners” as a Beatnik poet. - he also supplied properties to the film’s props department.

He sourced vintage clothes before daybreak at Brick Lane Market and Portobello Road for his stalls at Kensington Market C.O.D.(1980- 1983) Carnaby Street Hi-Tak (1982-1984) as well as designing, manufacturing and retailing his own fashion at his shops Ultra Dig at the Trocadero and London Pavilion (Piccadilly Circus) 1989 - 1995.

He went on briefly to work as personal assistant/researcher to Katherine Hamnett and John Galliano at the very top of the fashion business.

He donated a collection of 1960s “mod” mohair suits to the Victoria and Albert’s “street style” exhibition

In 1990 Paul set off on a new course hosting poetry events in the West End of London, “The Word Now” at Helen of Troy’s club in Hanway Street. Shane Macgowan and Nick Cave attended the opening event.

Paul continued with poetry events devising, promoting and performing in poetry and spoken word events for Peter Boizot, founder of Pizza Express for the Soho Jazz Festival.

Performers who he promoted included Geoff Nuttall (of the People Show), Carolyn Cassady (Off the Road), Michael Horowitz, Herbert Hunke and Will Self. In 1994 he ran a series of spoken word/poetry performance events at the Marquee Cafe featuring 120 performance artists which were recorded on Hi-8 video and now lodged with the British Library.

“FabtractTextspressionists” improvised words and jazz with “the underwater poet” Lord Patrick Coyningham also “Words are Birds” a spoken word marathon event with Murray Lachlan Young and Will Self.

In 1996 he began documenting the burgeoning heroin and crack cocaine dealing scene by first and second generation Bangla Deshi immigrant youths in Tower Hamlets with journalist Sanjiv Battacharia (Evening Standard and E.S. Magazine)

He created a sanctuary at his Whitechapel flat for young white girls caught up in addiction and prostitution as a result of this situation. He photographed and documented their plight, protected them, wrote to them and visited them in prison and researched a feature for GQ Magazine (December 2000) “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”. He encouraged the girls to write about their lives and published resulting work in the Idler Magazine and literary zine “Full Moon Empty Sportsbag”.

As a consequence of these activities Paul began to be attacked by Bangladeshi kids whenever he left his flat alone - between 1998 and 2001. 14 incidents were logged by police in some of which he suffered broken ribs and fractures of the skull. No investigation was ever undertaken by police and there were no arrests despite a chief suspect being charged and jailed for attempted murder in another case.

As a result he was approached by Clive Simpson a director for ITN and under a pseudonym researched the seminal exposé for the London Program “Bangla Voices” introduced by Philip Gayle.

And then in 2003 he was introduced to rising star Peter Doherty who had found sudden fame with his band The Libertines.

Paul has been characterised and been the subject of various “fictional characters” in books and the subject of several songs including “Professorro” by A.T.Wells and “At The Flophouse” by Babyshambles.

His photograph “Brighton Punks “MISRULE” was licensed by Parlaphone for the gatefold cover of “Delivery” by Babyshambles.

He wrote “The Saga” on the eponymous second Libertines album.

He has researched and is an expert on Leicester born / New York 1960s artist Peter Gee who commissioned the first Velvet Underground public concert and influenced Andy Warhol.

He was commissioning editor for the literary zine “Full Moon Empty Sports Bag” and edited and transcribed Peter Doherty’s literary work including his four Prison Journals (unpublished). He commissioned and successfully promoted the art project known as the Blood Paintings.

He has an extensive digital and analogue archive of recordings, manuscripts, films and photographs, of his time with Peter Doherty (2003- present) and all of the above.

Welcome to the Rock & Roll Museum for photography and fashion at 146 Brick Lane, E1.