My very good friend and personal hero
John Geary has finally lost his long and valiant struggle with a rare muscular wasting disease. He died a few days ago at his Holland Park flat. His friends and work colleagues knew that this moment would come eventually but it's still a deeply saddening shock.
John would be very dismissive of any tributes to him and his work but here's mine.
Basically he was a modest genius. Many ad agencies and designers all over the world would come to John for logo designs as his work was always brilliant and elegant. Here are a few of his designs.
Most recently he was working on a box set cover for the Game of Thrones. But I knew John mainly for his amazing illustration work. I shared three studios and several exhibitions with John the last of which was in a bar in Palma, Majorca and was a celebration of the female posterior entitled Bottoms Up! I had asked him by phone if he fancied contributing to the show and a couple of weeks later he rang me to say that he'd done some drawings and would I like to pick them up. In typical modest John fashion he said that they weren't very good so I wasn't expecting the dazzlingly elegant and erotic pieces that he showed me. "Who was the model?" I asked. "Oh, I just drew them out of my head." he said.
Here are six of the best!
I have entertained my friends in Brighton for many years with stories of John's experiences both hilarious and scary (the weird thing on the underground is a favourite! Ask me if you haven't heard that one!) and I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that I can no longer talk to him nearly every day on the phone about art, films, TV shows, Jack Kirby, film noir, Hollywood stars, books and all kinds of weirdness.
Farewell John. It's been a great privilege and a deep deep pleasure to know you!
Love
Paul
