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Did Romance die with the Mixtape?

12 Mar

Following on from previous posts about mixtapes and musical joy, this is a piece written and published in the January issue of the Pebble, in the hope of encouraging some romantic sharings. It was due to be a collaboration with Ellie, the music editor, but it unfortunately didn’t happen. So these words are just mine, but we both made spotify playlists.

Did Romance die with the Mixtape?

I cannot think of a greater joy than giving someone I love a mixtape. The hours of searching and selecting songs for that special someone is the embodiment of joy poured into plastic. When I say mixtape do not necessarily just mean the old school cassette but also the compact disk, which is also becoming obsolete as we increasingly prefer to download onto hard drives, transfer via usbs and sharing songs on Youtube. Like random playlists are phasing out the progressive journeys only albums can take you on, the mixtape which was once seen as visible exchange in youth culture is not exchanged or appreciated as much as it used to be.

My love of music started with rainy afternoons in my bedroom recording and re-recording old cassette tapes to exchange with my friends. Every party that I would throw in my teenage years had its own handmade soundtrack made especially to suit the vibe of the night. I recently rediscovered these gems when I was moving house, replaying them took me back to a time in my life when I had shared experiences, happy or sad, with the people that I love. Magical memories are always made better by music. I tried to re-create this epiphany last Christmas by making individual mixtapes for all my girlfriends, all reflecting their own tastes in music and the highs and lows they were currently feeling in their own lives. How gutted was I to discover one of them being used as a coaster a month later?

Then there is the art of making the mixtape. There is no easy way to produce it without hours of scouring of intros and outros to ensure the transcending voyage hides no voids and fits like a puzzle. While there are so many unwritten rules as to how it should be done, Nick Hornby manages to define it brilliantly in High Fidelity; “A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention, and then you’ve got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch… To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again.”

The hardest part for me is deciding on the theme. Sometimes the best mixtapes consist solely of songs with certain words rather than music of a specific genre, the best example I have heard of was songs about birds. While this may amplify your musical kudos, it will never demonstrate your personal taste, so you must always keep the person you are making it for in mind always. Do you want to impress them, or seduce them? One thing is guaranteed, you will never be happy with the finished product. The moment you burn it and hand it over so will very soon after discover a new song that could have been the missing link.

But is it all worth it? Absolutely. I fell in love with my first boyfriend due to a series of punk rock compilation CD’s that he made for me, each with its own individual artwork. There is a special egotistical charm about lover’s songs, like a joke between friends that will never tire and grow more special with age: just think of those cheesy first dances at weddings. More music needs to be shared in meaningful way, not through Facebook, but through feeling. So right here, I am starting a campaign. If you love or fancy someone, make them a mixtape. If you don’t want them to know, send it anonymously and print out the track listing. Trust me; it will be the cheapest yet most meaningful valentine you will ever send. You never know, you might bond over a shared love of music that you never had before.

To start the love vibes, Ellie and I have compiled a few tracks for your listening pleasure. Join the Pebble Facebook group for the Spotify link. We love you, but we are not making a CD for each and every one of you.

http://open.spotify.com/user/roz2uk/playlist/4IEwHfssCXcipv4PLDsrd0
http://open.spotify.com/user/ellinormargareta/playlist/278eBMi42zg0vpPRwzHlHc

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Chris Cunningham

6 Mar

This is a short feature on special effects artist Chris Cunningham, which was printed in the January issue of the Pebble. He is also putting on one off rare visual show at the Brighon Dome on the 19th April, which I still need to purchase my tickets for…

Spotlight Artist – Chris Cunningham

This month, our spotlight becomes even more dark and twisted when as we go on a not-so jolly journey with visionary British Director Chris Cunningham, who will soon be gracing us here in sunny Brighton to prise open our doors of perception.

Born in Reading, 1970, Cunningham ditched art school and his early sculptural and linear convulsions of robots and humans to follow his director’s dream. Originally working in the special effects departments on projects such as Spitting Image and Alien 3, it was his work on the film Judge Dread, that caught the eye of Stanley Kubrick and got Cunningham headhunted to work on his 30 year headache: A.I. Cunningham was assigned the task of designing the android David, a role which Kubrick believed could of never be portrayed by a human. But when the project was handed to Steven Spielberg to direct in 1995, Cunningham designs were abandoned as Spielberg gave the role to Haley Joel Osment. Cunningham then turned his hand to directing music videos for British bands such as Placebo and Dubstar to cut his directing teeth on.

1997 was the year that Cunning ham received critical acclaim for the music video ‘Come to Daddy’ by Aphex Twin. This twisted nightmare saw schoolchildren with Richard James’ superimposed face creating havoc in the council estate that was also used by Kubrick in scenes of A Clockwork Orange, as well as a Grandma scarily tormented by possessed demon. Despite being banned by many video stations, along with ‘Windowlicker’ it has achieved cult status and has been voted the 17th greatest music video of all time by Q magazine readers. Another Grammy nominated achievement produced in 1999 was ‘All is Full of Love’, by Bjork, where two robots embrace among a mechanical assembly, which is on permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

While still falling back on music, directing videos for the Horrors and a forthcoming single for La Roux, he has distanced himself from motion pictures after attempts to adapt William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly failed to materialise. Cunningham has more recently become a multi-disciplinary, working on his own short films and music, funding these projects which the occasional advertising assignments for Sony, Levis and Gucci. Before the rise of Youtube his films were generally hard to view, but (excitedly) Cunningham is due in April to do a very rare audio visual performance at the Brighton Dome, showcasing old and new work. Tickets are available via the Dome website, or their ticket hotline. Even for students it’s pricey at £14, but with the aid of some special guests he will show us what he does best, blowing our minds with psycho-sexual imagery that even the darkest depths of our imagination wouldn’t dare to dream.

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H R Giger

6 Mar

This is a short feature on special effects artist H R Giger, which was printed in the December issue of the Pebble.

Spotlight Artist – H R Giger

Everyone loves a Surrealist. You can’t understand what they are on about, but you love them. Then there’s Science fiction; Fantastical nonsense fronted by a dark facade of reality’s nameless dread. Mix the two together in a creative melting pot of fetishist terror and you will be lucky to discover something a little like HR Giger. This ladies and gentleman, is Dr. Strangelove.

He was born in Switzerland 1940 and from an early age admits he was fascinated by women; early ink drawings were made as a part of his art therapy. After he discovered airbrushing and combined it with a freehand drawing technique, he started to develop the landscapes he is most famous for; the surreally fragmented feminine body being swallowed up by dark biomechanical contraptions in a dark futuristic universe. The prominent dark erotic undertones were more than likely the result of a tempestuous relationship with Swiss actress Li Tobler. She took her own life in 1975, yet her face can be seen echoed in much of his work, particularly his third publication in 1977 Necronomicon.

On viewing one of the first few copies of this book, Alien director Ridley Scott and script writer Dan O’Bannon decided they wanted him to work on the film. O’Bannon was introduced to Giger when they worked on an early attempt to produce Dune, admitting; “his paintings had a profound effect on me. I had never seen anything that was quite as horrible and at the same time as beautiful as his work. So I ended up writing a script about a Giger monster.”

20th Century Fox, who provided the budget for the film, thought Giger’s work was too dark. However, after producing initial design drawings such as Necronom IV, he was recruited to work on all forms of the Alien and its environments. He was awarded an Oscar for Visual Effects in 1980 at the age of 40. His stylistic influence seemed detrimental to the success of the film, and continued to resonate in the following sequels, yet he was not asked to return to work on Aliens by James Cameron.

Since Alien, Giger worked on other films including Poltergist II and Species, but has diversified and worked on many other projects. He has produced an album cover for Debbie Harry; forayed into sculpture, set up a museum devoted to his work in 1998, designed furniture and settings for numerous bars all over the world. He has now retired from painting, but his influence can be seen in many different forms of sci-fi culture, as well as tattoo’s, rock music, and the odd motorcycle paint job. This is phantasmagorical at its best.

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My Favourite Book – Subway Art

12 Feb

This was another piece published in the November issue of The Pebble, under the heading of ‘My Favorite Book.’

Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant.

It was a hard decision for me to choose just one book to share with you this month; I was torn between celebrity terrorists and the search for enlightenment. However, I decided to share with you the first art publication I purchased when I was 14, the original bible of graffiti.

Documenting the elusive popularity of the growing movement in its maternal homeland, New York, it coincides and features many of the same artists as the cult documentary ‘Style Wars’. Other publications preceded the book, but ever since Subway art remained different. Probably because its authors, made a deliberate effort to capture the work in situ, sometimes waiting for hours on rooftops for the perfect piece to come rolling by. They also got to know the bombers that were risking their lives for their profession, leading the book to evolve into a personal romanticized portrait of a growing subculture detested by police and government officials.

Cooper herself admits she did not realise what an effect this publication would have once unleashed on the world. “I thought that I was photographing a very localised, unusual, specific phenomenon that could only happen in New York.” Even Shepard Fairy admits the book is one of the main reasons graffiti became a global phenomenon, it was a main source of inspiration for people living in and out of New York City. Since its first publication in 1984, Subway Art has dramatically transformed the landscape of graffiti culture all over the world, as well as welcome associations with graphic design, typography and advertising. It has even received the reluctant title of being the most stolen book of 1988; subsequently every copy I have owned has been stolen from me!

Thames and Hudson made a brave decision to publish this work, at the time no publishers wanted to touch the book because of the bad connotations graffiti possessed. The Original print run was limited to 5000 copies, but the book has been continually in print ever since, and is now celebrating its 25th birthday with a new enlarged version. If you didn’t own it before, make sure you own it now.

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Can the recession make your creativity thrive?

9 Feb

Back in November 09 (I write this as though it was years ago) I wrote this piece for the Pebble at the beginning of my tenure as co-creative editor, a position which I shared with another third year student called Virginia. At the beginning we were all very excited (and we still are but in different ways) as although this was the beginning of the paper’s third year, it was the first time the paper had been under complete student control, but still under the watchful eye of Joel the Comms Saab. The paper had a bit of a cutesy redesign (I was impressed with my pages at the time but now I the paper can look a million times better) and this my cover article for the section. I hoped I was giving out good advice, and hoped students would follow it by sending their work to publish in the Pebble, but it wasn’t to be. Published in the Nov issue of the Pebble.

Can the Recession make your creativity thrive?

It is hard not to be scared of the R word, particularly if you are about to Graduate. This year has seen a record number of university applications with more people scrambling for better career opportunities, with 350,000 people that graduated this summer luckily found themselves joining the other 2.47 million loitering in the unemployed pool. Supposedly things are worse now than they have been for over a decade. Although it may not seem like it, this bleak, competitive time actually breeds collective creativity.

Everyone has heard of the phrase; “you have to suffer for your art.” I think this is more relevant now than ever. Bad times bring people together. Most people (especially the pessimistic British) love to complain about the grumps and gripes of modern life because they can empathise with it, feeling better about themselves knowing they are not alone. While we are now facing tough times more than ever, I am still a firm believer in the notion that the greatest artists have either suffered for their work, or are mentally insane. I know which one I would rather be.

Meanwhile, depressive eras during the last century have witnessed the birth of some of the 20th Century’s brilliant creative minds. After the abolishment of slavery around the turn of the 19th Century, African-Americans turned to the entertainment industry for jobs, which lead to the creation of Jazz. Some of the most poignant photographs replicating the harsh realities of the Great Depression in the 1930’s were taken by Dorothea Lange including Migrant Mother, when she sidetracked from her brief set by the federal government. Many abstract expressionist artists commented on the harshness of city living during this time and made them seek to explore new boundaries. Even the YBA’s were not made of money all the time. Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas set up their own shop for 6 months in 1993 making their own T-shirts, small artworks and ashtrays with Damien Hurst’s face set as a cancerous dartboard. Now why didn’t I think of that?

So, how can you make the best out of a bad situation while still at uni ensuring you stand out when you graduate? To me, there seems to be a common theme with the people mentioned above. When things are not going their way, they are diversifying. Sticking to what you are good at may always seem the safe option, but innovating, stepping out of your comfort zone and making use of the short falls going on around you as is the key to staying ahead. The same is seen frequently in business. The cosmetics giant Revlon was founded during a recession in 1932 around one new product; nail varnish. Being original and thinking outside the box is the only way to stay one step ahead of competition.

Unsure how to get out of an institutionalised mode of thinking? Here are a few starting points for expanding your creative horizons.

  • Join a collective or a union – There is power in numbers. Not only can you bounce ideas off each other (like in crits) but exhibition fees can seem less costly when you are stumping up the money together. For me, the best work seen at this year’s Brighton art fair was presented by collective groups.
  • Be prepared to work for free – to begin with anyway, so you can build up your portfolio. This can be done via work placements/internships or the beginnings of freelance work to build up your experience. Don’t be afraid to ask to exchange favours (not of the sexual nature). Your strength may be another person’s weakness.
  • Get your work seen in as many places as possible – Enter competitions. Send your work to magazines. Generate a buzz by being a Guerrilla artist and taking your work to the streets. Get your work published here in the paper, see below for more information.
  • Think small before you think big – A ceramics tutor in my foundation year would always talk about how he could never sell his big work, yet he would sell hundreds of decorated tiles of £12 each. Many people want to buy art, but can’t afford the big price tag. Make smaller works to sell in markets and shops and before long you will get the chance to make a grander impact.
  • It’s not what you know, it’s who you know – Luckily, you are studying in one of the most creative places in the UK, where there are many contacts to be made. Many freelancers attend business events where they can smooze with prospective clients. Don’t be afraid to ask how they became successful, compliments always make people spill. It always pays to be nice to people.

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    Anish Kapoor – 2009 Brighton festival special

    30 Jan

    Every May, a guest curator descends upon the streets of Brighton to create cultural magic. 2009 was the turn of sculptor Anish Kapoor, which sent most of the artist community in a devilish fever. As well as writing for the Pebble, I also volunteered for the project organised by Fabrica, which involved invidulating several of his sculptures that were strategically placed around Brighton. It was a great thing to be involved with and I managed to take some great snaps of C-Curve which was situated at the downs. This was published in the May 2009 issue of the Pebble.

    Brighton festival special – Anish Kapoor

    The Brighton Festival, now in its 43rd year, is very lucky to have Turner prize winning artist Anish Kapoor as its guest artist director. Born in India, he is one the most prestigious and influential sculptors of his generation, producing simple yet engaging curved forms that are often shrouded in mystery. The pieces he has lent to the Brighton festival are no exception. Seven works are on display until the festivals finale on the 24th May, two of which are specially commissioned and entry to most of them is free. But what is exactly on display?

    Sky Mirror – Pavilion gardens

    Many of you have probably already walked past the crowds in the pavilion gardens wondering what all the fuss is about. This circular concave disk is made from £1,000,000 of stainless steel and is one of the smaller versions in a series of sky mirrors that have been previously housed in Nottingham and New York. What Kapoor is trying to explore here is the notion of the ‘void’ where things disappear into a vortex of nothingness. The positioning of the mirror has been specifically designed so that if you stand directly in front of it but behind the fence (the corner where the flower bed meets the grass) you can see birds disappear when they fly over the sky. The mirror is viewable 24 hours a day, but the specific timing (and weather conditions) greatly affect your experience of the piece, so I would recommend seeing it more than once, to witness the act of transformation in different forms. Festival guides will be present between 12pm and 8pm.

    C-Curve – The Chattri

    This is another famous piece of work that has been seen in other places before the festival. The Chattri site held a special significance for Kapoor, as Indian soldiers that fought for Britain during the First World War were hospitalised in the Dome and are cremated here. The memorial was built here in 1921 to honour their memory and represent the protection of the dead.

    Supposedly when Kapoor visited the site, crows took flight as he approached the Chatteri and it reminded him of cremation sites in India, so he instantaneously knew that this site would be perfect for this piece and would provide a whole new meaning; death, reflection and remembrance.

    To get up to the C-Curve, you need to catch either a 5 or 5A bus to the Ladies Mile Pub in Patcham, walk up to the Horsedean Recreation Ground, and there is a signposted track up to the Chatteri. Like the Sky Mirror, C-Curve is viewable 24 hours a day, Festival guides will be present between 12pm and 8pm.

    Dismemberment of Jeanne D’arc – Old Market – Circus Street

    This is the main work of the exhibition, commissioned for the festival and specifically realised in an old fruit and vegetable market that closed down in 2005. Showing his progression from previous exhibitions, this work incorporates Blood stick (2005), and is a part of the progression towards a major show at Grand Palais in Paris in two years time. As you walk around, you eventually come to realise the mounds, limbs, and 2 ft pit resemble a dismembered female body. The title pays homage to Joan of Arc, the young woman who led the French Army through many victories against the English in the 13th Century, and was burned at the stake when she was just 19. What Kapoor has done here is transformed a once derelict building into an almost sacred site. The rich bloody reds of the stone and gravel in one sense are barbaric, but can also imply sensual sexuality, in its raw form. And with the space itself, Kapoor has resurrected its purpose and meaning, the same way the story of the Joan of Arc was been frequently transformed throughout history.

    The Muncipal Market is open from 12pm – 8pm, Festival guide will be available and entry is free.

    The Festival also features Blood Relations and 1000 Names (1979 – 1980) are housed at the Fabrica Gallery on Duke Street, open from 12pm – 8pm, which are some of Kapoors older peices. Imagined Monochrome is located in the Basement, and is viewable by ½  hr appointments only, which cost £12. Not very much can be revealed about this piece, other than you will receive a massage and you will see something that you didn’t expect…

    What is important to remember when looking at Kapoors works is although there is very little metaphorical stimulus to work with and your interpretation of what the works mean may be different from the person standing next to you, but this is the intended effect. Many of these works have been placed in different locations previously, so the meaning for Kapoor changes with every new place, so it will do for you too. For Kapoor, meaning is developed through the creation process, and the way that people interpret works in different ways depending on the way you look at it can only be a good thing. By being minimalistic, they encourage you to think. So when placed in a beautiful site of culture and rich history that is Brighton, and looked at with fresh eyes, these sculptures are transformed into different objects that can be easily enjoyed by all.

    http://www.brightonfestival.org

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    4th Plinth

    27 Jan

    When I heard about this project at the start of the year, I was keen to write about it to try and encourage students to get involved (imagining a Brighton student writing about their time on the plinth lol), but like Gormley’s ideas for the 4th Plinth at Trafalgar square, it was not as exciting as we dreamed it to be. This piece was published in The Pebble, March 2008.

    What do Jesus Christ, David Beckham, and Alison Lapper all have in common?

    In fact, they have all been immortalised on the infamous ‘fourth plinth’ at Trafalgar Square, by Mark Wallinger, Madame Tussaudes and Marc Quinn respectively. But the real question is, do you fancy joining them?

    Antony Gormley is a sculptor is well known for his exploration of the body and its relationship to memory, transformation, and the human condition. He is best known for ‘Angel of the North’ (1998), a 66ft tall steel angel towering over Gateshead, seen as the gateway to the North of England. For his latest commission he has decided to include 2,400 members of the British public in this work, a national living monument. The concept is simple; between 6th July and 14th October, 24 hours a day, someone will be on the plinth, speaking, performing, and doing whatever the public wants them to see or hear. These events will be fed 24 hours a day via Sky Arts, thus made available to the whole world. The Fourth plinth will be transformed into a glorified soapbox, to give anyone who wishes an hour to do with what they wish. Although, in the setting, it is worth considering that voice alone will not be enough to attract attention, a much spectacular visual display is needed. For Gormley; “Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought,” although he admits “I will be very upset if somebody doesn’t take off their clothes when they get there.”

    The Fourth plinth at this popular tourist spot has had quite a troubled history. Initially designed by Charles Barry in 1841 to hold an equestrian statue, it was left empty after its erection due to lack of funding. Ever since, people could never agree on the appropriate figure to be placed on it. The Royal Society of Arts took ownership of the plinth during 1999-2000, exhibiting works by 3 contemporary artists. In the year’s in-between the Greater London Authority took responsibly for its lodgers, it was occupied unofficially by a Channel 4 ident, David Beckham waxwork during the 2002 world Cup, and there was even discussion of a Nelson Mandela statue. In September 2005, Marc Quinn unveiled the much publicised and critised ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’, and Thomas Schütte’s ‘Model for a Hotel’ occupies the Plinth to this day.

    What is important to remember that while anyone can apply, Gormley has specified that the people selected will be representation of the whole of the UK, thus there should be equal numbers of people men/women, north/south etc. Gormley has applied for his hour, but he has just as much chance as you do. If you would like to get involved, please visit www.oneandother.co.uk.

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    Joaquim Mir

    27 Jan

    By this point of the year, Hannah and I were pretty much writing the arts page ourselves. It was good experience but we were struggling to come up with things after a while, but this artist came upon me like God to the Virgin Mary, while I was on a little holiday with my Grand-mama. This was published in the Pebble, May 2009.

    Need to Know – Joaquim Mir

    Everyone loves an Impressionist. There is something intensely calming about fluid colours, oozing viscosity and light. But these artists are just too god damn popular. So when you stumble upon someone no-one has ever heard of (there isn’t even a Wikipedia page for this month’s artist) you have to share the love.

    On a jaunt to Barcelona, I stumbled upon a retrospective of Catalan artist Joaquim Mir (1873 – 1940), in the fantastic independent gallery Caixa Forum. They have three (sometimes four) exhibitions on at anytime from a range of disciplines; European contempory art, Catalan art, architecture, graphic design… all of which are free. An old Art Nouveau factory, it is located opposite the entrance to Mountjuic (at the bottom of the huge double staircase) and is well worth a visit.

    Back to the artist at hand, Mir trained as a realist artist, initially constructing portraits of local people excluded from increasing industrialisation, meticulously studying the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous unfinished church, dubbed ‘The Cathedral of the Poor’. But when Mir went to live on the Island of Mallorca between 1900 and 1904, he found his own way to represent landscape, beyond realism, impressionism, fauvism… he made all of his own rules. The Enchanted Cove (pictured), displays his fascination with light and colour, so expressively bold it is almost terrifying. Supposedly, Mir’s persona was synonymous with the myth of the bohemian artist who becomes so involved in their work they exhibit a trance-like ritualistic state, so much so he fell off a cliff and almost died. After a spell in a psychiatric hospital, he searches ever more for light in its most naturalistic form, gearing his way towards abstraction. All of this is accumulated in the amazing stained glass piece housed in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya’s (MNAC) permanent modern collection.

    Mir’s work is thoroughly engaging and very beautiful, particularly the series produced in Mallorca. You can really see why he became fascinated in beautifully portraying the rainbows of aquamarine and cobalt as the crash against the dreamy coastline. In front of these works you become as transfixed as he was, and it’s a beautiful feeling.

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    Has Street Art Sold Out? Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’.

    27 Jan

    This was my first piece for the Pebble, back in November 2008. In the heat of Obama’s election fever, I cashed in on the comunal jubilation and wrote about street artist turned Graphic designer. I was pretty proud of myself at the time. Now I read it an see a ton of grammatical errors, but still very pleased with how it all came out.

    Has Street Art Sold Out? Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’.

    I am very happy that Barrack Obama has been voted in as the 44th President of the United States, and it appears I share these feelings with every other person I speak to about this hot topic. What is not as familiar is the street art propaganda poster, ‘unofficially’ used in his campaign, created by American Illustrator and Graphic artist Shepard Fairey, most famous for his Obey stickers. The use of the word ‘unofficial’ is debatable, primarily because Fairey approached the Obama cabinet to produce a poster for his campaign, not the other way around. However, the images Fairey produced supported rather than antagonised presidential politics and have now come to symbolize the future America (and the world) is looking for. But how was this done by an artist who’s style belongs to the street and still gets arrested for doing so? Has the common street artist sold his soul for commercialism?

    The bulk of Fairey’s poster work is primarily produced in a style reminiscent of the Russian constructivists; bold colours to emphasise meaning (particulary the use of red), simple stylistic forms for reproductive properties and sporting shrewd political taglines and iconic figures. His style is very familiar and has been featured heavily in the mainstream media; he has produced Album covers for the Black Eyed Peas, DJ Shadow, Smashing Pumpkins and Led Zeppelin, made the film poster for Walk the Line, as well as a loading screen for Guitar Hero II. Even his sticker campaign ‘Obey’ has been ripped off on Family Guy (Peter paints the giant icon over the Sistine Chapel – is there anything Family Guy doesn’t rip off?).

    During the previous election in 2004, Fairey produced a poster of Bush as a smiling vampire (very simalar to the ones of Sarah Palin generated this year). Guerrila artists are not known for producing positive images of political standing, so when permission came from the Obama camp, it was a bit of a shock. What Fairey had produced was ‘Hope’, a striking portrait of the candidate personifying the tagline. Fairey used this particular image (which was stolen from the internet) because he looked ‘presidential’ and made this more apparent by portraying him in patriotic American colours. When the initial run of 350 copies was sold through Fairey’s distribution company ’Obey Giant’, they sold out instantly. Two months after Super Tuesday (Day in which a large number of American States cast their votes for a Presidential candidate) in more than 80,000 of Fairey’s posters and 150,000 postcard-size stickers had been absorbed by potential voters, particularly the young and apathetic first time voters that would be crucial in winning the election.  Not bad for a weeks work and the stencil tool on Photoshop. But why has Fairey’s message changed? Can a street artist work with and against the system, without selling out? What is selling out?

    While Street Art is reacting to the political and social economics of society, it is also destructive to the groups it is commenting on. The kitchness (bad taste) of this style is reminisant of Pop art, everybody’s favourite art movement of the 20th century. It’s all about taking elements from popular culture and reacting to them, often in an ironical way.  Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych has been named the 3rd Most influential piece of Modern art, and I can see the resonance. Created in the weeks after her suicide it illiterates his ideas of the cult of celebrity. Both Warhol and Fairey have immortalised Chairman Mao, not to support his principles but because of the historic symbolism behind the image. Both Street art and Pop Art challenge the viewer to question the definition of art and its sincerity when works are made to be reproduced. 20th Century art critic Walter Benjamin wrote that work that is easily reproduced does not have the same ‘aura’ as an orginal, but Warhol and Fairey have strived to create a sensation through reproduction; first with the Marilyns and the Cambell soup cans, secondly with ‘Obey’ stickers on every lampost and ‘Hope’ on every window/T-shirt/internet blog in America. Post election day, ‘Hope’ has now become one of the most iconic images of the 21st century, and as you would cynically come to expect of any popular graffiti artist, the originals are now being sold on ebay for thousands of dollars. But does the ‘aura’ of an orginal artwork equate for a high price tag?

    If we looked at the work of Banksy, a graffiti artist who has now become an household name, I would say yes. His orginal prints and stencil works are now selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds with world renowned auction houses. There are problems though, as works have to be authenticated by his company Pest Control, and run the risk of not selling if not done so. This company was set up because auction houses were taking down stencilled walls and selling the whole thing, which in his eyes was unacceptable because it belongs to the street. Having a Banksy on the side of your house can be beneficial, as it can double the value of your property, but it runs the risk of being painted over by the local government for fear of degradation of the local area. This is an artist that is cleverly making you think about the Urban environment you live in, making sure you are aware of the Rat Race you live in. However, because we agree with what he is saying we all scramble for a piece of him; his work, name, anything. Thus I think it is impossible for an artist not to sell out when we all have a copy of Wall and Piece as toilet reading. And then Guy Richie commissioned a portrait of Madonna from Banksy for her 50th birthday and I lost all respect for him altogether.

    As for Fairey? Well, he may of started in the street, but being a commercial artist he knows you need to pay your bills before you can start revolutions. It is a very refreshing change to have an artist being political in a positive way without saying ‘make love not war,’ but how many souls do you have to sell before you can get to that point? He is already on the way to sell out mode by the amount of admirers he has out there. And his style is so simple, so easy to reproduce… I have already asked my friend to print one of his designs onto a T-shirt for me. There are many spoof ‘Hope’ posters circulating with images in Faireys style of the Pope (Pope), McCain (Nope), Amy Winehouse (Dope), Jesus (Hope) and my personal favourite, Obama with an afro hung outside a hairdresser sporting the tagline “Time for Change – $20 Cuts”. Originality never lasts for long. When you produce something so fresh, everybody wants a piece of it.

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    Jenny Saville

    8 Mar

    By now writing for the pebble has kind of become a regular thing… so I am scrambling to put something together the night before like an other freelance writer. This is just a little piece intended to sound like a Winter warmer; which I think had the desired effect when I heard that some students were grimacing at it. Featured in the Febuary 2009 issue of ‘The Pebble.’

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