OUGD505
SB01
Punks Influence on Graphic Design
The same political, social and economic unrest that kick started punk in the 70's is here again. Graphic design captured a voice that would define a generation and allowed their message to be heard.
Punk can be seen as social revolution. The most well known designer in this revolution was Jamie Reid. He was able to translate 'uncaged angst' into a style of cut and paste artwork. This style would define the punk movement.
Malcom McLaren (sex pistols) and Jamie Reid went to art school together and shared political views. They were influenced by Situationist International. Reid designed the posters for the Sex Pistols only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols.
The style came form a time before photoshop or digital design tools.
'Reid effectively captured the chaos of the anarchist spirit by visually attacking existing compositions and elements that he remixed into violent contrasts in shape, colour, and form.'
His work is outside of the rigid establishment of graphic rules. The DIY style made it accessible for fans and reproduction was encouraged.
“To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are,” Patti Smith once said. “It’s freedom.”
Jamie Reid's Work
Situationist International.
Described by the Tate as Revolutionary alliance of European avant-garde artists, writers and poets formed at a conference in Italy in 1957. The situationists are best known for their radical political theory and their influence on the May 1968 student and worker revolts in France. It developed a critique of capitalism and was heavily influenced by Marxism and surrealism. They opposed the state but did not call themselves Communists due to its strong association with the communist party. The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it,” wrote Marx. “So far philosophers and artists have only interpreted situations; the point now is to transform them,” wrote the SI.
Examples of SI's work
 |
| The Youth Too Often Worry About the Future |
Return to Normal
 |
| It Doesn't Bother Me To Be A Revolutionary |
In 1968, Paris saw students and workers protest against increased levels of poverty and unemployment under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle’s conservative government. The protest was self initiated. The graphics that accompanied the riots were hand made by students and facility staff at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. The students made hundreds of silk screen posters and declared them to be “weapons in the service of the struggle… an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.”
 |
| The Struggle Continues |
No comments:
Post a Comment