In 1962 while still at the RCA, he appeared with Peter Blake, Pauline Boty and Peter Phillips in Pop Goes The Easel - a film directed by Ken Russell for the BBC’s Monitor series (David Hockney can be seen dancing rather weirdly in the background of one scene!) In it Boshier was critical of the expansion of American influence and the impact of advertising on identity. His work from that time develops this theme. 

As an example The Identi-Kit Man explores his fascination with the soft-power of advertising and marketing and its effect on us. He used products like toothpaste, Swan matches and Special K cereal, as a way of trying to expose and neutralise American influence, (toothpaste was the first product advertised on British television). Boshier also explored the space race in 1962 with paintings such as I Wonder What My Heroes Think Of The Space Race. These show astronauts as real and traditional heroes defined by epic adventure and exploration. 

As with many of the other RCA students, he mixed extensively in the London music and art scene. He often found himself at parties with The Beatles, particularly hitting it off with John Lennon who had been to art school in Liverpool: “At heart, he was an artist as much as he was a musician. We often hung out late into the night at his (Kensington) flat talking about painting. Like me, he adored Hieronymus Bosch.” He also sold Lennon his first car. In an audio interview he relates in detail how the Beatle said he needed one. Boshier said he’d sell him his own, a green Triumph Herald convertible, “for a hundred quid”. Lennon went upstairs to get him the money, and Boshier caught a taxi home. 

During the early 1970s he taught at the Central School of Art and Design where one of his pupils was John Mellor (later known as Joe Strummer of The Clash). This led to Boshier designing a collection of drawings and paintings for The Clash album Give ‘Em Enough Rope.

Derek Boshier died on 5 September 2024, at the age of 87. Buy his artwork from mainstream galleries here.