Birdie and Goldie run past their ground breaking ‘Future World Machines’ mural which was produced live as a showcase work for the public, at ‘Night Writers’, the Supreme Graffiti Team’s first gallery show, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, August 1986. Photo: Martin Jones.

Goldie’s Future World Machines was undoubtedly the finest mural to come from the Supreme Graffiti Team’s first ever art gallery show. The show marked a significant departure because the work was sprayed onto boards and canvases for the first time rather than walls.

It was the result of months of experimentation in sketch books and on walls throughout Heathtown in Wolverhampton, where Goldie lived at the time. The half- man/ half-robot figure, glass bubble, vents and pipes were developed in close collaboration with Chris Harvey, who was the group’s illustrator/cartoonist. They drew much inspiration from the film Blade Runner, analysing the film on video, frame by frame.

The colours were specially developed by Goldie. We built a fruitful relationship with the manager of Nicholls, a car paint business in Walsall, who allowed Goldie into their workshops to supervise the custom mixing of colours to his own precise specifications. It enabled Goldie to produce just the right shades of red, pink and blue for the lettering, and the dull brown and grey for the panels. Another unique feature is how the panels change colour under the dome. Indeed the panelling became something of a trademark feature and was also used in ‘Global Destruction’, his entry for the Bridlington World Graffiti Competition in 1987.

Future World Machines was selected by Henry Chalfant to be one of those representing the UK, for his 1987 book ‘Spraycan Art’ about the best graffiti art around the world.

Image 1: Early days. Goldie joins the B Boys breakdance team from Wolverhampton.

Auditions for the Electro Rock UK breakdance film, held at Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, February 1985. Front row, left to right: Keith ‘Kiddo’ Anderson, Hanifa McQueen Hudson, Gary ‘Birdie’ Burns. Back row, left to right: Goldie, Mark ‘Freestyle’ Ansine, Cliff ‘Lewinski’ Malcolm. Photo: Martin Jones.

I first met Goldie in September 1984. He was one of four new dancers recruited to replace members of the original B Boys breakdance team who had left due to work commitments. By February 1985, the new B Boys had gelled into a well- choreographed professional unit under their manager, Violet Hudson – with Goldie in a dual role as a dancer/graffiti artist.

The first gig I arranged for them as an agent was a nationally televised battle against arch-rivals Future Shock from Coventry on ITV’s Saturday morning children’s show, ‘Saturday Starship’, hosted by Tommy Boyd and Bonnie Langford, for which Goldie provided a graffiti mural backdrop.

By late autumn 1984, there were rumours of a British breakdance film. I contacted James Street Productions in Covent Garden to offer help in selecting acts from the West Midlands – I set up a day of auditions at Midlands Arts Centre’s Studio Theatre in Birmingham attended by the producers, Robin Hogarth and Richard Gayer.

Eventually they selected the B Boys (Goldie was still a dancer at this point) and Birmingham’s Mr Riddles to attend the filming at Peter Stringfellow’s London Hippodrome, in March 1985. Several months later, around the time of the film’s release on Polygram Video, the B Boys promoted the film with sponsorship from Puma, dancing live on the BBC’s ‘Saturday Superstore’ (interviewed by Vicki Liquorish) and TV South’s ‘Freeze Frame’. By this time however, Goldie had gone on to a solo career as a graffiti artist and was replaced in the group by Ray ’Reano’ Robinson.