Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid is a British Artist and an anarchist who was born in 1947 in England. Reid is most famous for his work with sex pistols. He designed his artwork for the Sex pistols and symbolised the English punk rock scene in the late 70s. Reid says, “Punk was part of a story that had been going on for the whole of the century, if not longer.”

This image is of the Queen of England which has lettering saying ‘God save the Queen’ across the eyes and ‘sex pistols’ across the mouth. The most surprising aspect about this image is that Reid specifically used the Queen’s face as well as covered her features which come across as very disrespectful. Many would never imagine an artist to do so, especially to someone with such a high role, status and great amount of respect.

This image of a music cover was made using newsprint, photocopy, screen printing and layers of ink which was then put together like a collage. There are several means of media used here which makes the lettering bold and stand out and also replicates the time period in which it was made.

The ideas,  thoughts and feelings that this music cover design communicates is that instantly gives an impression that the Queens power is immediately taken away from her due to the lettering that covers the main features on her face.

At first, I disliked the image as the Queen is someone who has a great amount of respect towards her and should not be treated in this way. However, after looking closely at the image and observing it in further depth, my initial opinion began to change as it shows how brave Reid is with taking such a risk in using the Queen’s face and covering up her main facial features with these words. Though, my initial opinion is not completely changed as I do feel that the image is slightly bland and plain yet does give a bold message due to the lettering used. If I were to improve it, I would’ve have blended the lettering with the eyes and the mouth instead of just putting it straight across her face. I strongly like how Reid’s work is almost unusual and strange which certainly shows the rock/punk side of the cover and he remains portraying his theme which is very interesting.    

Ben Eine

1)      Ben Eine was born in 1970 in London, England

2)      Ben Eine is an original street artist and is most famous for ‘Alphabet Street’

3)      Ben Eine’s style of work is producing huge letters on shop fronts. He has transformed streets around the world with his bright, colourful letters.

4)      Ben Eine started his graffiti work around 25 years ago

5)      The cities that Ben Eine has made street art in include LA, San Francisco, Mexico city, Miami, Paris, Dublin, Tokyo, Stockholm as well as him home city London

6)      The real name of ‘Alphabet Street’ are shutters and murals he painted in his trademark colours and typography in Middlesex Street, London

7)      President Obama was given a Ben Eine print that has now made Eine very famous

 

 

   I chose piece of work above by Eine as I like the way the colours merge together from light to dark. In addition, I like the message that this portrays of ‘MAGIC’ put together with smiles to portray to the viewer that anything is possible if you have faith in your passion.