#malcommclaren

Week 9 Lecture

End of the future While the future is invented by the futurists, the future is declared finished by the 1970s punk rock movement. Many modernist ideals have been demolished which can be considered as the end of modernism. The system shifted from Monotonal belief (Premodern), to pursuit of Utopianism (Modern) and afterwards the abandoning of Modernist Ideals (Postmodern). Not only did the punk movement had a great effect to music, but it also influenced design. It had the idea of rerouting and distorting cultural artifacts. The punk movement was also responding to struggling culture at the time where the government was taking plenty of money from the poor. The Memphis art movement was also discussed in the lecture.

[Thoughts] Punk may seem a bit of a messy aesthetic, but now I understand how it was thought as refreshing at the time. I have listened to punk music before and the first time I heard it I thought the music embodied quite shocking and rebellious messages. I have to admit it was something new to my ears and it made me want to express myself more and maybe go into a more rebellious state. In a design perspective, I think the unique way punk aesthetic incorporates collages still left an influence to modern art today. I have never realized how powerful and highly influential the punk genre is.

The Punk Movement

The punk rock movement began in the United States in the early 1970s as a continuation and a reaction to the 1960s counter cultural movements. Although punk music was mostly an American invention, punk style and attitude were a product of British youth culture. Punk began as a reaction against the music, idealism, and aesthetics of the 1960s hippie movements, but can also be seen as a continuation of the political and stylistic upheavals of the 1960s. Britain in the years after World War II had experienced significant economic hardships and social problems. Conservative elements in British society emphatically rejected the counter cultural movements and left-leaning politics of the 1960s. By the mid-1970s, the British economy was stagnant, and unemployment, especially among young people, was rampant. "No future" was the motto of many bands. The punks' stage outfits were daring and unconventional, with a lot of black leather, dog collars around their necks, safety pins in their ears and Mohawk haircuts. The British establishment was shocked. But the rebellious youth there and in continental Europe had found its new heroes and bands sprouted up everywhere.

The Sex Pistols {Artwork}

Sex Pistols changed the course of punk movement and also led the field when it came to representing their genre aesthetically. The collaborated closely with talented artists, graphic designers and photographers, such as Jamie Reid and Ray Stevenson. They produced images which captured the nature of punk, and the most Sex Pistols artwork continues to rank the most iconic images in popular culture.

Malcolm Mclaren

Malcolm McLaren (22 January 1946, London, Eng. — 8 April 2010, Switzerland), British rock impresario and musician who, responsible as the  manager of the punk band the Sex Pistols, helped birth punk culture. McLaren created the signature clothing of the 1970s punk movement, responsible for torn vintage T-shirts, dog collars and spikes. With his girlfriend, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, he opened the avant-garde clothing boutique called Let It Rock in 1971, but he soon became more interested in rock music as a mean to express his radical aesthetic ideas.

Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid (Born in 16 January 1947, London) is a British artist who is known for his décollage covers of the Sex Pistols’ albums. Reid’s art helped define the aesthetic of the British punk movement with its faux-ransom-note letters and iconoclastic defacement of pop culture and nationalistic images. He attended the Croydon Art School where he met the future manager of the Sex Pistols, Malcom McLaren. Today, his works can be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Tate Gallery in London, among others. Reid lives and works in London, United Kingdom.

Memphis

Memphis is a design movement which began in Milan, Italy in the year 1981, founded by designer Ettore Sottsass with other designers and architects. They took their name from a Bob Dylan song titled Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again which was played on repeat during their first meeting. Like many creative movements, Memphis was a reaction against the status quo. The 1950s/60s mid-century modern and 1970s minimalism were about structure and straight lines. To counter that, Sottsass centered the group’s thinking around “radical, funny, and outrageous”, which essentially disregarded what was considered in “good taste” at that time. The geometric figures of Art Deco, the color palette of Pop Art, and 1950s kitsch inspired their unusual aesthetic.

first two images are from the lecture

image 3 https://designobserver.com/feature/the-art-of-punk-and-the-punk-aesthetic/36708

image 4 https://diffuser.fm/cover-stories-never-mind-the-bollocks-heres-the-sex-pistols/

image 5 https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/129548926752896666/

image 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Reid

image 7 https://www.thecut.com/2017/05/the-memphis-design-movement-is-having-a-moment.html

Resources:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-the-punk-rock-subculture.html

https://www.dw.com/en/how-the-punk-movement-was-launched-40-years-ago/a-19563124

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/sex-pistols-artwork-punk/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Malcolm-McLaren

http://www.artnet.com/artists/jamie-reid/