#devilock

THIS ONE'S FOR ALL THE MONSTER KIDS -- CUE "DEVILOCK" (1983) RIGHT ABOUT NOW.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a Martin Kippenberger piece titled "Candidature à une rétrospective," ("Candidacy for a Retrospective"), c. 1993.

"The pre-digital, appropriated, rephotographed, and often degraded image is also ubiquitous to the art of punk flyers and fanzines of the late seventies and early eighties. The radical degradation and mutilation of mainstream imagery in early punk graphic design has been so influential on contemporary visual culture that it’s easy to forget that we haven’t always been looking at things this way. Heinecken’s work shares an aesthetic connection to this genre — especially with the imagery of V. Vale’s San Francisco–based "Search & Destroy" magazine. Since SFMOMA has no copies of "Search and Destroy," nor any punk flyers from this period, I have included Martin Kippenberger’s poster "Candidacy for a Retrospective" (1993) with the artist pictured sporting an iconic MISFITS devilock."

-- MATT BORRUSO (American/Bay Area-based graphic artist/illustrator/former hardcore punk musician)

When I was in high school, my friends and I were at a thrift store that used to be nearby. That’s where I saw this psychedelic coin bank that was a creature I couldn’t quite identify. He was a ceramic hippo/pig/cow with a single curl and a yamaka on his head. I decided to name him Lucy. I kept him and held him sacred for years until I accidentally broke that physical incarnation of Lucy in 2011. I always told myself that Lucy would come back into my life at some point, but I didn’t know how to go about searching for Lucies.

Ten years later, I was able to find another Lucy who’s different from the first, but undeniably Lucy nonetheless, on eBay for a very good price. Turns out, Lucy and his kin were hippo coin banks made by a ceramics company based in Florence, Italy called II Quadrifoglio. “Quadrifoglio” is Italian for “four-leaf clover.” The company began around the 50s, then grew in the 60s. I’m pretty sure this Lucy as well as my former Lucy were both from the 60s.

Lucy is one of the first physical pieces of art I fell in love/became obsessed with. He was also my best thrift find by far. In fact, my Facebook account was originally called “Lucy Intheskywithdiamonds” because I made a whole Facebook account for the first Lucy. Facebook eventually forced me to change the name and submit my ID. Now that the spirit of Lucy had returned to me, Zucc is clearly no match for me. This isn’t even my final form.