Artist Research: JAMIE REID

       Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid (born 1947) is an English artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationist. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK. His best known works include the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the singles ''Anarchy in the UK'' , ''God Save the Queen'' (based on a Cecil Beaton's photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, with an added safety pin through her nose and swastikas in her eyes, described by Sean O'Hagan of The Observers '' the single most iconic image of the punk era '' )

Jamie has a very unique style of arranging text on an image and his typography skills and methods of working helped him give the punk era an image. Because the artist is also on anarchist his work has a punk/rock aspect. He uses techniques such as collaging letters from newspaper and photographs to give his work a trashy and somehow messy style which worked perfectly when designing album covers for the Sex Pistols.

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1.) Some of the source materials used in the making of this poster would have to be: old wallpaper for the background, maybe some original stamps and writing on the background, the ''bright'' and ''future'' fonts at the top of the poster we're maybe used from a newspaper, collaged elements. It is pretty hard to identify source material in this specific piece of work but I mentioned the ones i would use if i were to try and re-create this image.

I am not 100% sure about any digital media that the artist used in the making of this or if he used any at all. Photoshop tools like selection tools and resizing tools would be ideal for the first stage when creating something like this. More complex tools like the brush tool could be used to achieve the effect on the font and opacity & flow would be used to give the image a more refined final aspect

The compositional elements in this image are the two black cars in the middle, the text at the top and the bottom and also the background which gives an overall aspect/theme to he image. Very dull and vintage like colors have been used, such as light brown, black and dull red. 

I personally believe that the artists intentions are to raise awareness about the dangers of using petrol at such a high level and remind people about how hazardous for our planet is the fact that the vehicles we use have such a big impact on our environment.

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2.) Source material that i'm sure the artist used at the time he made this piece of work are collaged sections such as the text and he probably also used a pencil or graphite to give the flag a more realistic appearance by adding the shadows.

I don't think that the artist used digital media in the making of this piece, but if i we're to attempt making my version some Photoshop tools of my choice would be resizing and selection tools, blending modes to give the image a canvas like texture, masks and control of opacity for a final retouched and refined  aspect.

This piece of work does not have as many compositional elements as the previous one but it's as effective and impressive like any other. The text is centered as it's the first thing the viewer should see when looking at the image. Other elements visible afterwards is the ripped flag and the safety pins holding it together. Again dull and simple colors have been used such as burgundy red and ''dirty'' blue which gives a punk aspect to the image to suit the band. 

The artist's intention was to create a punk/rock album cover for the band. He managed to do this really well because the design suits the band and it perfectly represents them. The ripped flag with safety pins holding it really captures the idea of anarchy and rebelion which the artists encapsulated in this historical piece of punk art.

3.) The text visible in the center of the image is definitely collaged which is part of Jamie's style and another source material used is the picture of queen Elizabeth.The flag in the background might also be a collaged element. From these pieces of work we can see that the artists is using more source material than digital methods of manipulating the image to give it a different effect, which is why I chose this artist because I want to see how digital media give me more possibilities to be creative and experiment with different tools and techniques.

Some Photoshop tools that I would consider using if i would try to achieve a similar effect would be: resizing and selection tools to begin with, experiment with different filters and masks to give the flag or the image of the Queen the desired effect, layering and opacity settings to give the image an appropriate and realistic texture. 

In this piece of work we can see in the center an image of the Queen in black and white with text over her eyes saying ''GOD Save THE QUEEN'' and over her mouth the name of the band '' Sex Pistols'' . All of this is in an oval on top of the union jack flag which has a realistic aspect because of the folds that mimic how fabric would behave like. Everything in the center of the image is in Black and White and the flag is in  it's usual colors. 

The artists intentions just like in the previous design were to create an album cover that would suit the image of the band. The name of the album is '' God Save the Queen'' so the artist cleverly used the image of queen Elizabeth, added the necessary text and the final touch which was the background. 
This is a historical piece of art in the industry of punk rock and the artist did a brilliant job since the image is still remembered today. 

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