It is one of rock's most iconic images — Paul Simonon, at a Clash show in New York, in the act of destroying his bass guitar. No single action captures the thrill of punk better than the wanton obliteration of the very item that has brought your freedom. Take a close look — Simonon's really giving it some, flexing for a better purchase, enjoying the swing of the thing.

The original featuring an out of focus Paul Simonon

That's the spirit, lad!

It was Pennie Smith, the celebrated rock photographer, who took the picture — but Ray Lowry who immortalised it. Lowry, an illustrator whose pen and ink drawings appeared regularly in Punch and Oz and who drew a weekly comic for the NME, accompanied the Clash on their 1979 American tour as their “official war artist”.

The Elvis album that inspired the design

When Joe Strummer charged him with choosing the image for the band's new LP, London Calling, he alighted on a photograph that Smith had rejected for being out of focus. He added the album's title in jaunty pink and green, in parody of the cover of Elvis Presley's debut album — a masterstroke of graphic design. “God made me do that,” he explained, with punkish eloquence. As for the picture? “Actually, I had no idea it was out of focus. Half-blind at the best of times and half-pissed at the time, that simply had to be the one.”

The piece by former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire

This month, 30 artists, musicians and general roustabouts are producing images inspired by, in celebration of and in tribute to Lowry, who died in 2008. Works by Tracey Emin, Keith Allen, Billy Childish, The Stone Roses' John Squire and the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon will appear at the Idea Generation gallery, alongside Lowry's original sketches, cartoons, illustrations, paintings and designs for albums that were never to be. After the exhibition, the interpretations will be auctioned for the Ray Lowry Foundation, which supports further education projects for the underprivileged.

Young British artist Christopher Agnew's deconstruction of Ray Lowry's classic design

Comedian Harry Hill's tribute to clash

Ray Lowry: London Calling is at the Idea Generation, E2 (ideageneration.co.uk) from Friday until July 4. Admission free; open Mon-Fri
10am-6pm, Sat-Sun noon-5pm