The artists

This print is one of three versions created by artist Zoltron and photographer Paul McAlpine as part of an ongoing collection of commemorative poster art, where prints are produced specifically for the fan base of an artist and band, rather than for a marketing or commercial purpose.

McAlpine, a very well-established photographer of musicians, has worked with artists such as Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Aerosmith and Rod Stewart over the past 40 years. The artist Zoltron (as he is professionally known), is influenced by the psychedelic sixties style, nineties comic book art and punk typography, citing designers Storm Thorgerson (of Hypginosis, who designed for Pink Floyd), Rick Griffin, and Robert Williams as inspirations. McAlpine and Zoltron have previously collaborated on posters for Iggy Pop and Pussy Riot, establishing a successful run of one-off collectable prints.

Debbie Harry and Blondie

Debbie Harry (born 1945) is the lead vocalist of the American rock group Blondie, which formed in 1974 and was notable for incorporating musical influences such as avant-garde, reggae and hip-hop into their new wave sound. Developing their career in New York City alongside bands such as Talking Heads, Television and Patti Smith, Blondie achieved commercial success with albums such as Parallel Lines which included the songs ‘Picture This’, ‘One Way or Another’ and ‘Heart of Glass’. They have had significant success in the UK, with six number one singles spanning 1979 – 1999 and nine albums reaching the top ten.

Central to the group’s success is Harry’s persona, which – particularly in their early years as a band – is confident, streetwise and unashamedly sexual. Harry became a style icon and was immortalised in artist Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, polaroids and screenprints, situating her within a wider and influential cultural and artistic scene.

These prints by Zoltron and McAlpine contribute to the legacy of Pop Art and Warhol’s fascination with Harry’s striking features. Her face, so frequently depicted across media, has become synonymous with punk, new wave, and 20th-century music. She now publicly admits this stage and print persona to be constructed, an amalgamation of screen actresses she idolised and used as a prism to explore her own world, which she described as ‘pre-womens lib’. Harry is now celebrated as being one of the few female band frontwomen of the 20th century, as well as being a proto- punk feminist.

While Blondie initially disbanded in 1982, it re-formed in the 1990s and has been active since. The ‘Against The Odds’ tour 2022, for which these prints were designed, was titled as such due to the coronavirus pandemic and the tour’s complicated rescheduling from Autumn 2021 to April 2022. This also coincided with the release of an ‘archival’ boxset of their discography, under the same name.

These three prints by Zoltron and Paul McAlpine, which reinterpret a previous photograph of Harry taken at The Paradise Club, Boston in 1978 (taken by McAlpine), reinforce and acknowledge Harry’s status as a stylistic and musical pioneer, bringing this legacy up to date.