Neasden Control Centre (NCC) is the British design agency of Steve Smith. Smith, who is in his early thirties and lives in Brighton, maintaining a secret identity similar to other artists working in the genre of street-art-inspired design. Smith refers to his work as “visual rants;” his work shows an obvious background in experimental street art and cut-and-paste ‘zine making.
It also has an air of intellectual and social significance that points to his years at two major British universities. Smith formed NCC, along with a changing cast of contributors, in 2000 in the Neasden area of London, which is infamous for its high crime rates. NCC’s work began showing up in a wide range of magazines, and in 2002, publisher Die Gestaltan Verlag commissioned a self-titled NCC book. The book was a cult success, evident now by the enormous rates for which it sells on secondary markets like eBay.
Smith maintained the growing demand for his work from magazines, t-shirt companies, and commercial projects while consistently exhibiting NCC’s work throughout several countries. The works documented in Lost Control follow up on the initial self-titled book. The artwork was mainly created specifically for this book, and save for a few brief caption pages, there is no text, only fullpage illustrations of various styles of work: collaged photographs, frantic scribbling, dizzying screenprints, installation and street work, cardboard and ducttape sculpture, and video stills. Lost Control is an inspiring collection of work. Simple sketches evolve once assembled among an enormous body of work; the phrase “Take Your Time” takes on a different meaning when compared with images of horse-drawn buggies, wild train tracks, and aerial photography of sprawling cities. A cardboard monster, made comic with television-set eyes, doubles as housing for a seated screening room.
-Chris Force
NCC: Lost Control
Robert Klanten
Paperback, 192 Pages
$65, Die Gestalten Verlag (DGV)