Lobster love

Scottish pop-surrealist Philip Colbert has created exclusive, highly collectable cover art for Big Issue featuring one of his famous Lobstars. These often huge, crustacean-like characters have exhibited in every corner of the globe – floating down Venice’s Grand Canal; placing a wager in Macao; hitting the beaches of Singapore’s Sentosa Island – and now 30 of them have invaded the ruined Roman city of Pompeii for a four-month stay. Ahead of the installation, Colbert, once dubbed the godson of Andy Warhol, caught up with Big Issue to explain the significance of lobsters in his art (“they’re our bridge to the infinite”), and why Pompeii – a place he describes as a “pop city” for its wildly surreal frescoes and mosaics – feels like a natural home for them. He also takes us on a short tour of his favourite Roman sites around Britannia, and offers a signed, limited-edition print for sale via Jealous Gallery, with proceeds going towards Big Issue’s mission.

Also inside

• How 15 years after Amy Winehouse’s death, a housing project set up in her memory is helping young women overcome addiction
• Beth Orton grew up thinking that playing music was only for the boys. A chance meeting with William Orbit at a party changed everything
• As the march of data centres gathers pace, Essex bikers and bug enthusiasts are joining forces to fight back
• We drop in at the Newcastle hub that’s taking a pet-friendly approach to keeping homeless people and their companion animals together
• When book publishers can’t discern between AI and human authors, what does it mean for the future of literature?
• Climb aboard Canal Boat Contemporary, a narrowboat gallery where Bradley Foxwell, an artist experiencing homelessness, has just held his first exhibition
• Lucy Sweet wishes she had her own Ann Droid at home to warm her monoslipper
• Malcolm Jack asks, in the modern gig world, is it curtains for the encore?
• And Bournemouth vendor Rodney says wearing his tabard is a source of pride

And much more

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