Punk Style Typography The esign D Mo vement of the 1970’s Kalle Lasn Jamie Reid Art Chantry By: Meghan Meyerhoff
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Cover: Lasn, Kalle. Design anarchy. Vancouver, B.C.: Adbusters Media Foundation, 2006. P. 50
Punk Typography Punk Style emerged in the mid to late 1970’s. While you mostly hear about punk fashion and punk rock music styles, the graphic design punk style is very unique. It has been described as ugly, confusing, anarchistic, crass, etc. Punk design is very stylized, using Xeroxed and collaged items, mixing cut out letters with found images or photographs, hand drawn or written portions, etc. “The punk phenomenon expressed a rejection
of prevailing values in ways that extended beyond the music. British punk fashion deliberately outraged propriety with the highly theatrical use of cosmetics and hairstyles, clothing typically adapted or mutilated existing objects for artistic effect: pants and shirts were cut, torn, or wrapped with tape, and written on with marker or defaced with paint; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewelry. Punk included elements of irony, absurdist humor and genuine suspicion of mainstream culture and values. The DIY aesthetic of punk created a thriving underground press.�Many images include torn or burnt flags, nude or scantily clad women in sexual positions, and political figures or events cast in a negative or crude perspective. Punk design was also referred to as Anarchy Design, Destructionist Graphic Design, or The New Typography.
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The point of punk design is to make a statement, get peoples attention in a negative manner, but also to make people think about what is going on at the time. There were many designers who participated in this design movement, including Russian designer Kalle Lasn, British designer Jamie Reid, and American designer Art Chantry. All three of these men are known for different ways of participating in the punk style.
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6 Page 2 1. “How Does it Feel To Be The Mother of 1000 Dead?” 34cm x 24cm. 1982. p. 60 2. “International Anthem 5 - War.” 29cm x 21cm. 1983 p. 68
Page 3 4. “International Anthem 1 - Education.” 23cm x 23cm. p. 26 5. “International Anthem 1 - Education.” 21cm x 20cm. p. 24
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Kalle Lasn March 24, 1942 –
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Kalle Lasn was a part of the anarchist side of the punk design. Born in Estonia on March 24, 1942, he grew up in a German refugee camp, and spent part of his childhood in Australia. As an adult he immigrates to Canada, works for a publishing company there for a while, and then finally publishes Adbusters Magazine, which is full of “culture jam,” ideas and theories. According to Lasn, culture jammers are members of society that do not want to go with the flow, and want to express their anarchist ideas. His book Design Anarchy is full of his ideas, sketches, and final posters. He has many ways of expressing himself; taking popular figures and casting them in a rebellious or negative light, changing the ways other people see material items, and casting a general anarchistic shadow on everything.
“What design needs is ten years of total turmoil...fuck-it-all anarchy...after that maybe it will mean something again...stand for something again.”
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Page 4 1. Untitled, p. 52 2. Untitled, p. 327 3. Untitled. p. 16
Page 5 4. Untitled, p. 296 5.Untitled, p. 297
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Jamie Reid 1947 –
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y r t n a h C t Ar April 9, 1954 –
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Jamie Reid P. 6-7 Jamie Reid was born in Surrey in 1947, and is most well known for his work on the Sex Pistols album covers. In the early 1970’s he and a group of friends from art school started their own printing press called Suburban Press. There they printed pamphlets, books, leaflets, etc. for many different political movements that were going on, like the women’s movement, the black movement, and squatting. He also works very anarchistic, using images of the Queen and putting safety pins in her face, combined with an image of the British flag in a distressed state, full of holes and pins. While his style is similar to Lasn’s, his work is completely different. He does not make work for “culture jammers,” but more to fight for causes, and put the spotlight on international problems and British politics.
“And in terms of graphic design, I probably learned more from the printing press than I did in art school. You start developing an appreciation for what actually looks good - out of sheer necessity, from having no money. Some things gain qualities, some things lose qualities. We had to produce things really fast.” -Jamie Reid
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Art Chantry P. 8-9 Art Chantry was born in Seattle, WA April 9, 1954. He started making posters when he was 15, influenced by monster magazines, psychedelic culture, and Polish graphic design. He started out with posters for local concerts. He graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in painting, but pursued a career in graphic design. His posters are both chaotic and clear, mixing collage images and text. He created posters for bands, theatre companies and political benefits. He does not work digitally to create his posters; only hand creates and Xeroxes images and text. He “is very passionate about the hostile takeover of the design profession by digital technology.”
“Chantry’s ability to look for and reinvent the out-of-fashion, the purposely outside the mainstream international style, has resulted in his being selected for many exhibition and design magazines.” -Therese Thau Heyman
Image Captions Page 6 1. Wall Street 2.City of Culture 3.Sex Pistols “Fuck Forever” Album cover 4. “Ye Gods of Old” Page 7 5. Funk the Banks 6. Time for Magic 7. Keep Warm This Winter: Make Trouble 8. A Short Sharp Shock 9. Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen
Page 8. 1. “I Take One Everywhere I Take My Penis” 1997 2. “Snatchapalooza” poster, 2007 3. “Swag Rock Posters of the 90’s” poster, 2003 4. “Double Down Saloon: Rollercon” poster, 2008 Page 9 5. “Died Young, Stayed Pretty.” 2009 6. “Working Class” poster, 2009
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Image Sources
1. “Art Chantry Snatchapalooza Doubledown Saloon Poster.” Rock Posters at D.King Gallery :: Concert Posters : Band Posters : Gig Posters : Music Posters. http://www.dking-gallery.com/store/CHA_ Snatchapalooza.html (accessed April 23, 2012). (Snatchapalooza Poster) 2. “ British design in the modern age: from punk bands to boom-time brands | Art and design | The Guardian .” Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/mar/26/british-design-modern-age (accessed April 23, 2012). (God Save the Queen Sex Pistols Image) 3. “Died Young, Stayed Pretty—A Movie About Rock Posters! | AIGA Chicago.” AIGA Chicago | The Professional Association for Design. http://www.aigachicago.org/events/died-young-stayedpretty%E2%80%94-movie-about-rock-posters (accessed April 23, 2012). (Died Young Stayed Pretty Poster) 4. Double Down Saloon - Home of the fabled Ass Juice, Birthplace of the Bacon Martini. http:// doubledownsaloon.com/buy.html (accessed April 23, 2012) (Rollercon Poster) 5. “Music Poster Books - Swag: Rock Posters of the 90’s.” Music Poster Books - Index. http://www.posterbooks.com/music/swag-rock-posters-of-the-90s.shtml (accessed April 23, 2012). (Swag Rock Posters of the 90’s) 6. “Northcoast Zeitgeist: October 2009.” Northcoast Zeitgeist. http://www.northcoastzeitgeist.com/ blog/2009/10/page/2/ (accessed April 23, 2012). (Working Class Poster) 7. “Jamie Reid “Ragged Kingdom” New Los Angeles Show Opening CoverageStreetArtNews.” StreetArtNews. http://www.streetartnews.net/2012/03/jamie-reid-ragged-kingdom-new-los.html (accessed April 23, 2012) (Jamie Reid Images) 8. “shtigs corporations gallery.” shtig.net. http://www.shtig.net/muses/muses.html (accessed April 23, 2012). (Chantry Condom Poster) 9. Vaucher, Gee. Crass art and other pre post-modernist monsters. Edinburgh: AK Press ;, 1999. 10. Woods, Gerald, and Philip Thomson. Art without boundaries, 1950-1970. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972.
Bibliography
1. “After Modernism.” An Introduction to the History of Graphic Design. http://designhistory.org/Post_ mod.html (accessed April 20, 2012). 2. Broderick, Patrick. “Rotodesign | Art Chantry Interview.” Rotodesign.com | Patrick Broderick. http:// www.rotodesign.com/art/art.html (accessed April 20, 2012). 3. Heyman, Therese . “Search Artists / American Art.” American Art. http://americanart.si.edu/search/ artist_bio.cfm?ID=7244 (accessed April 20, 2012). 4. “Index Magazine.” Index Magazine. http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/jamie_reid.shtml (accessed April 15, 2012). 5. Lasn, Kalle. Design anarchy. Vancouver, B.C.: Adbusters Media Foundation, 2006.
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