Mischief, maniacs and unhinged horror: Gary Card’s sweet spot

Every surface of Gary Card’s striking cobalt blue kitchen is covered in works-in-progress: a community of busts depicting satirical humanoid faces – fabricated from two defiantly humble materials: wire and masking tape.

“This exhibition is about making a kind of strange collection of people – neighbours, odd characters that live next to each other on some weird street,” explains Card, as I examine the grinning, goblin-esque figures more closely. Among the throng I spot hair-braided schoolgirls, pipe-smoking fishermen, and a Jackie Kennedy-type high-society figure, replete with pearls and a pillbox hat. Naturally, Card’s cheeky signature mascot, Smudge, is also present – a mischievous Easter Egg for those looking closely, shoehorned into many of his projects. And, of course, there’s a witch. Why? “It’s always fun to have a neighbourhood witch – maybe it’s witch girl summer!”

“I love their manic faces, those really wide mouths – like crazy-looking psychopaths,” Card continues. “There’s definitely a cartoonish, mischievous quality to them, as well as something a bit horrific – which is my sweet spot, and quite British in that regard.” He cites Paul McCarthy, John Currin and Huma Bhabha as key influences, and like their work, Card’s new pieces are immediately recognisable as part of the idiosyncratic aesthetic world he’s been building for two decades.

I ask how they’re made, and Card shows me how he twists masking tape into long, tube-like shapes (not unlike, well, a joint) and then moulds them like Play-Doh to create eerily detailed textures. I touch a finished piece that’s been painted and coated in enamel which gives it an unexpected heft.

Renowned as one of the world’s leading set designers, Card is the plucky Bournemouth-born, bleach-blond wunderkind who has collaborated with the likes of Lady Gaga, JW Anderson, Tim Walker and FKA Twigs (to name just a few). His obsession with the colour purple was once so intense that The Guardian commissioned an “Experience: I wear purple every day” piece on his extensive collection of purple clothing and bric-a-brac – iconic! Personal favourite past projects include a fabulously camp plasticine Christmas tree for Philippe Starck’s Sanderson hotel; a custom snooker table with a glory hole for Beth Ditto’s dominatrix ES Magazine cover (RIP!); and a monumentally oversized chrome penis for make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench, styled after her lipstick design.

In recent years, Card has been shifting his focus further towards his own work, prioritising personal projects over editorial and commercial commissions. He curated, designed, and exhibited in ‘Hysterical’, the most attended group show at Phillips in London in 2019, and last year opened ‘People Mountain People Sea’, a major solo exhibition in Hong Kong including an immersive video installation, painting, and outdoor sculpture. “People know me as a set designer; I’d like to be known as an artist first and foremost,” he says, adding, “I’ve spent years creating worlds for designers and brands, this is a chance to make a space for myself.”

At 20 Great Chapel Street, Card has transformed the ground floor Plaster Store into a psychedelic, high-energy environment – “a weird curiosity shop cum artist workshop.” He’s titled the project ‘Gathering Dust’, juxtaposing the minimal museum-like curation of his ‘Busts’ upstairs with custom interior design and groups of older works downstairs – past series that have, quite literally, been gathering dust – alongside further new pieces including a recent ‘Trinkets’ series. Resembling a kaleidoscopic grotto, he hopes the result will serve as the “antithesis of what one might consider a summer show.”

Card has also invited friends and previous collaborators to showcase their own wares. Jamie Bull – who recently collaborated with Card on a viral photographic project – is presenting his 4FSB (“For fuck’s sake, babes”) baseball caps, beloved by East London art twinks and, incidentally, Timothée Chalamet. Long-time friend and illustrator Ferry Gouw is producing a new zine. Unified Goods are exhibiting archival cassettes, vintage toys, and Larry Clark soundtracks. Merchandise available for purchase includes hand-painted T-shirts and card-igans – Geddit? – as well as new posters featuring scattered, unpolished archival imagery from Card’s hard drives: “incidental photos of things that were being destroyed or, you know, on the back of a lorry being taken away – nothing too refined.”

As I head back towards Brixton High Street – the chaotic heatwave energy of which feels uncannily aligned with Card’s latest work – he leaves me with one final thought:

 “If there’s one thing I want people to know, it’s that this guy Gary Card is masking tape: he makes everything with it…”