Bikers' Bookshelf

Paul Sample’s commercial illustration undeniably shaped the visual culture of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, but it was his private love, motorcycling, that inspired the strip cartoon ‘Ogri’. Published almost without a break from 1972 to Paul’s retirement in 2013, the 446 full-page comic strips and countless one-offs and individual panels form an unparalleled body of work, the last of which was thought to have been sold at auction in 2010 or subsequently given away. Then, in 2017, just as a volume of the complete strips was nearing completion, Paul chanced upon one last plump portfolio tucked away forgotten in a spare room… Published here together for the first time in connection with the BlackShed Gallery’s May 2021 ‘Original and Best’ exhibition are all 102 of the rediscovered originals, including the last two Paul ever produced – neither of which ever made it to the pages of a magazine.