Not Afraid to Merge: Indüstria and the Iconography of 1980s LA/ London

Too Funky Linda. Industria: Brad Branson and Fritz Kok. 1992

By Delia Cabral, March 14th, 2026

As an American art critic and curator living in the UK, my 1980s LA past does not often come flooding into the present day, let alone into my London life in 2026. The evening I attended the opening of Indüstria – Glamour and Graphic Imagination was such a day. As I entered the lobby, the photographs set against the hotel's elegant, modern interpretation of Art Deco transported me straight back to the 1980s. A large black-and-white photograph of Linda Evangelista, wearing a bright, flaming orange pointy collar, floated above a room of impeccably dressed fashionistas sipping champagne. Familiar faces, with a light dusting of time's passing, though wearing it well. Gen Xers, alive and well.

Power Tools original club invitation. 1985. Courtesy of Brad Branson Photography Estate

This exhibition brings to the forefront club culture in the 1980s and 90s as an aesthetic engine of the social-artistic ecosystem of the underground nightclub scene in Los Angeles, and Indüstria's creation of icons of the time as a byproduct of lived culture.

Produced by Maggie O'Regan of InSitu Art Consultants in collaboration with Ackerman Studios who run the art programme at 45 Park Lane. The show brings together the collaborative works of Los Angeles-born photographer Brad Branson and Dutch model/artist Fritz Kok. I spoke with Kok and discovered we shared much common ground. Power Tools, an underground club I frequented in my youth, was co-founded by Brad Branson and DJ Matt Dike and launched in 1985. It opened with an exhibition of Fritz Kok's work, and I was there that night. I remember the buzz about the club. In those days, I was working as a fashion model and attending UCLA. I lived on campus in Westwood. I heard about this club through my agency. I had the address on a flyer, looked it up in the Thomas Guide, and drove my convertible Fiat Spider to Crenshaw Avenue, an area known to be rough. I was seeking adventure in LA, pushing against my fears — "People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles," to quote Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero, a book that captured the ethos of LA at its height of dystopian decadence. This was the era I was coming of age in Los Angeles, and it was exciting; it was usual to see famous faces and mingle amongst them. Power Tools was Brad's working studio and loft space as well as the coolest nightclub for those in the know, and the work that resulted was happening in real time.
 

Interview Magazine. Thierry Mugler fashion editorial 1989. Space Lesbians. Model Eugenie Vincent

Rebirth of Venus by Fritz Kok from an exhibition at Power Tools. 1985. Courtesy of Fritz Kok
 

I asked Kok how the collaboration with Brad Branson came to be and what their inspirations were. He replied candidly: "The concepts started from styles and moods we both liked. Further inspiration came from all kinds of different angles: models, designer outfits, bookstore browsing." This is how Indüstria's work materialised — from scene to image, then from image to icon, then from icon to aesthetic, and now to art history. Kok described how Branson had a knack: "Brad had an incredibly fine-tuned radar for interesting talent and always tried to connect people he sensed would be a creative match." His instinct was unparalleled. Portraits featured in the exhibition include Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Jones, Susie Cave, Linda Evangelista, Boy George, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Annie Lennox, Bryan Ferry and Iman. When we look back at some of the iconic images from the 1980s and 90s, they are often Brad Branson's. The exhibition at 45 Park Lane is elegantly curated, featuring the faces of the era's gods, goddesses, heroes, and warriors. The artists shaping art and culture wanted to be portrayed by Indüstria. George Michael sought Branson's advice when filming his "Father Figure" video. Branson and Kok were at the epicentre of the zeitgeist. Boy George directly commissioned Branson for the cover of his "Don't Cry" single sleeve; Basquiat and Madonna went to Power Tools, and so did Andy Warhol.
 

Boy George. Don’t Cry single cover. Cropped image of the original 1988 portrait by Brad Branson.

Andy Warhol Diaries — Saturday, 30 March 1985:
"After dinner, we went to Crenshaw Avenue, way in the Black area of LA, where Brad Branson, who does photographs for Interview, was giving his second weekly party. He's doing it like a club, but with friends' names on the list. And it was actually great, he had all the cute kids there, and it was two floors and a garden part, and some people said that Madonna had been there right before we got there."

Second night of Power Tools. 1985. Andy Warhol, Fred Hughes (Andy’s hairdresser) and Fritz Kok. Courtesy of the Brad Branson Estate
 

Two-artist collaborations are not common in the art world, but when they work, they really work. Gilbert and George come to mind. Their work is seamless and is famously known for incorporating self-portraits set amongst a cacophony of colours and graphic elements. The result is a merging into a single distinct voice that carries an iconic aesthetic and provocative commentary on politics and culture. Kok and Branson are another example of creative merging. Branson, a gifted photographer and charismatic club owner, and Kok, an artist and fashion model, are each accomplished in their own right. Their LA-based ecosystem in the 1980s and 90s masterfully combined photography and collage, resulting in well-integrated images that reflected the era; this is how art becomes iconic.
 

To better understand Indüstria's process and how they combined photography and collage to create their well-integrated images, I asked Kok to describe how he and Branson worked together. He explained: "Brad would prep small shoots at the Silver Lake home, for which I'd paint large backdrops. It wasn't until one of the guys from the magazine Manipulator came by that he saw me playing with collage pieces on top of one of Brad's photos he took on the roof, and wanted it for his next cover. The magazine being as big as a newspaper, this proved a great way to be printed and published — and that was the moment Indüstria was launched."

 

Queen Vivienne / Indüstria, Brad Branson and Fritz Kok. 1988
 

Stephen Jones. Industria: Brad Branson and Fritz Kok 1988
 

Kok told me about the Anmut und Schönheit scrapbooks he and Branson used — Anmut und Schönheit which means Grace and Beauty. These were vintage books, the pair filled with their own sketches, paintings and collages, turning them into a sort of visual diary. This shared practice helped them to create a cohesive visual language. The two worked in parallel to develop a rich, layered new aesthetic that combined Branson's experimental techniques, such as selenium rinsing, sepia toning, and fastidious hand retouching, to bring an old Hollywood glow to Kok's European fashion sense, with surreal and science fiction elements created through layered photo-collage techniques set in front of complex backdrops. Indüstria employed aesthetic time travel to create the look that incorporated Art Deco elements and bold geometric shapes. This became the signature aesthetic of the 1980s and 90s. I remember wearing Patrick Nagel-inspired outfits, geometric earrings, big hair, mingling amongst the Hollywood Brat Pack, and spending late nights at Power Tools dancing to Depeche Mode, then later going to Canter's for late-night dinner, where we unpacked what had happened and who we had seen. I was there; my lived experience is now the subject of my critical reassessment. Indüstria's work exists in the collective nostalgia and is now also receiving much-deserved accolades. Sometimes it takes time and distance to see the power of popular culture and how it shapes and becomes art and history.

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Venice Beach Studio. 1984. Brad Branson.
 

Los Angeles and London were distinct yet parallel incubators of culture, and Kok and Branson had a hand on both sides of the pond. Indüstria created a different kind of icon, heroes during the Reagan/Thatcher era. Kok describes this time as "projecting silent movie goddesses and Riefenstahl-style heroes onto the adventurous new stars in London at the time," not realising they were creating images that were becoming iconic. As a young woman in LA, I dreamed of living in London; today, my dream is my reality. Recognising a fellow LA clubber in a beautiful Mayfair hotel, forty years and the other side of the world from Crenshaw Boulevard — to meet a person who had lived in parallel and also dedicated his life to art — is an honour and a privilege. Not everyone is afraid to merge.

 

Power Tools. Club goers on the second night (1985). Courtesy of Fritz Kok.
 

Indüstria – Glamour and Graphic Imagination, produced by Maggie O'Regan of InSitu Art Consultants, is the first exhibition of 2026 at Dorchester Collection's 45 Park Lane, currently showing through to 26 April throughout the hotel's public spaces. WM