Research Task: Collage Artists

Banksy

Banksy is a street artist whose message is to show political and cultural art around the world; his identity is a mystery to many but his message is for everyone to see. His works reflect what is happening around the world, but mainly in the UK where many can be spotted. Banksy's work plays with it's surroundings as it graffiti onto a wall with the wall as a canvas and it's imperfections around it to play with it.

There has been many iconic imagery that comes to mind when I think of Banksy, and many of his works has been plagiarized for home decoration in which he created another piece to bite back at that. The girl with the balloon is very iconic and more recently that piece of work was made up then up for sale for anyone to buy-- when it was sold, it shredded itself to show how the art has now died because of its commercial value.

My favourite piece of work is the work he did in Ukraine, as the country faces an invasion and devastation, Banksy shows the normal abnormal life of Ukrainians as they show children playing in rubble and doing gymnastics, or the lady standing on a chair with a gas mask and a fire-extinguisher. It's not satirical because saying that will say that it's mocking a weakness when Ukraine stands tall and are brave in the face of a fascist. 1

Steve Bell

Steve Bell is a cartoonist from The Guardian known for satirical and political illustrations targeted at politicians, his work is funny and interesting with amazing use of caricature -- immediately identifying a character to its person. Steve Bell works prominently in traditional mediums, using inks (with traditional ink nibs) and watercolour; he finds joy in the unexpected flow that a traditional mediums has. 2

Recently, he has been fired from his position at The Guardian for his illustration he made on X (formerly Twitter) which depicted the Prime Minister of Israel readying to cut out a Gaza shaped hole out of his stomach; this is in reference to a similar illustration by another artist in but with Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam 3.

Jake and Dinos Chapman

Jake and Dinos Chapman's work is shock value, it's very satirical (and controversial) and has a lots of dark humour in it; made so in a variety of medias and has quite a visual impact. Their work is dark, disturbing and unsettling... Something that would be censored if seen anywhere else. Just a few of their works I've seen are certainly, rememberable. An example of their controversial work is: "ISN’T THIS GREAT? THE SALTY SEA AIR! THE WIND BLOWING IN YOUR FACE! SIGH PERFECT DAY TO BE AT SEA! (2014)" which was made with resin. As I look through their works they use cultural and historical events to make their art shocking, mixing the Ronald Clown with the racist clan creates a link to their underlying message.

4

Peter Kennard

Peter Kennard's work shows a photo montage of his messages and that of current events like wars and climate change, his dedication to climate change has seen his work exhibited in Glasgow for COP 26 (in November 2021) as he calls his work 'CODE RED'.

Reading into his 'CODE RED' Exhibition more, I am intrigued by his technique in relation to its subject. Describing the ways he put the piece together saying "I cut it up, tear it, pummel it", this in particular with a photo of the Earth shot by the Apollo astronauts in 1972. The series of photos becoming one as they show the "increasing destruction of the natural world" as result of what us humans have done. 5

His photomontages are seamless and interesting, always grabbing your focus with it's bold imagery; and doing so in a intricate ways, a play with textures and shapes-- the longer you look at a photo the more detail you can make out and the bigger the meaning.

6

Barbara Kruger

Kruger uses similar techniques but with using a limited palette of colours, bold shapes and does so with the idea that it could be seen in a magazine. Kruger's messages are a reflection of our culture, an example I find more relatable than ever is our obsession with shopping, influencing and media; using those techniques makes her work instantly recognizable and iconic.

We find ourselves instantly fitting ourselves onto the piece, reading it, reflecting it and being de-influenced from all the messages that media has forcefully shoved in our heads that "we need this lamp that is so amazing", or "you must buy this skincare or you'll look old".

Her messages range from the media and shopping to power, to society, war and to sexism; everything and anything- and her voice shall be heard. Her installations reflect ourselves and our experiences, making them and realizing them; waking up people from what they've been avoiding, showing their "experiences, hopes, and fears, inviting viewers to understand “how [spaces] form us as much as we form them.""7

8

Lorna Simpson

Another iconic lady is Lorna Simpson, who creates beautiful works that combines photography and words using the camera to explore her thinking and feeling. Her work reflects themes and explorations linking to political identity, showing marginalized societies like black people, women and the LGBTQIA+, showing awareness of "issues and unfairness that these marginalised people have to face"9

Lorna's work is powerful and narrative, each artwork tells its own story without pressuring the viewer to completely understand or read into the story- it's completely open to what the viewer will do. Her powerful work called Waterbearer shows us a woman pouring out water, with the text "SHE SAW HIM DISAPPEAR BY THE RIVER," "THEY ASKED HER TO TELL WHAT HAPPENED"" ONLY TO DISCOUNT HER MEMORY". this collaboration of imagery and text tells us that narratives can/are constructed but what we think our brains are telling us, no matter if you have great memory or not- you can still tell a different story. 10

This narrative is so clever and it has left a profound feeling within me; everyone has their own narratives in their own worlds, made up from what's happened or what you think happened. Many times I recall a memory and question if it really happened, or has it just played in my head so often that it's changed to how I want to remember that moment as.

11

Linder Sterling

Linder Sterling creates photomontages with the media or "glamour magazines" and the culture of shopping- similar to Barbra Kruger but in a more grunge effect; creating imagery with dynamic shapes, interesting textures and with iconography of the "famous". Linder Sterling creates narratives on the stance of social, economic and political change, celebrating women and being the voice of the everyday woman. 12

Sterling has also created visual performances in which she uses professional dancers on a rug to represent their trigger for their past and future life with the rug stimulating a smell which the performers and viewers alike with smell as a "hallucinatory scent". 13

Her photomontage work is my favourite (the image below being my favourite), it's grungy and raw; it's not overly elaborate or dark like Jake and Dinos Chapman's works, it's innocent but also mature with it's "mature" themes but innocent doodles.

14

Cold War Steve

Cold War Steve has summed up British humour in their work, as soon as I saw their imagery I knew that they understood what the average British person has thought to make. Their work it cultural and political satire, and is used in a photomontage way and shows the chaos of the world (but the UK in particular).

I surprisingly really love their work, they use clever techniques to make everything not feel seamless but our brains like the images together-- regardless if their is lack of proportions and all the other art technicalities. Cold War Steve's work is sarcastic and I feel like the lack of "perfection" tells us that it's just trying to be funny-- unlike Jake and Dinos Chapman where it feels so dark that you question the sanity of the artist.

15

Their work remind me of my collage that I did previously, just having a laugh with the scrap of the newspaper I had to create what most people in the UK are thinking.

My own previous work

Reflection

My most favourites from the list of artists is: Banksy, Lorna Simpson and Cold War Steve. Since they something that stood out to me; I have always loved Banksy work and will always love the way he uses the graffiti to interact with the environment showing what's really going on or what we really need to see. I love Lorna Simpson use of photography and text and it's deeper layers that really takes you on a journey through your own experiences. I really like Cold War Steve innocence and humour, it reminds me of what I see visually through videos on tiktok of memes or commentary of what the British public think of politics and cultural events.

1 S Tanno, CNN 'Banksy Confirms seven new murals in Ukraine', Nov 14, 2022. https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-ukraine-murals/index.html Accessed Jan 16, 2024.

2 The Cartoon Museum, Youtube 'Cartoonist Steve Bell Interview', Apr 30, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKO2yeL6lI Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

3 F Nelson, The Spectator 'In defence of Steve Bell', Oct 17, 2023. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-defence-of-steve-bell/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

4 Jake & Dinos Chapman, 'ISN’T THIS GREAT? THE SALTY SEA AIR! THE WIND BLOWING IN YOUR FACE! SIGH PERFECT DAY TO BE AT SEA!', 2014.

5 P Kennard, Peter Kennard, Oct 2021.https://www.peterkennard.com/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

6 P Kennard, Peter Kennard 'CODE RED. COP 26. GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 2021', Oct 2021. https://www.peterkennard.com/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

7 U/A, MoMA 'Barbara Kruger', U/A. https://www.moma.org/artists/3266 Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

8 NGA, 'Untitled (Know nothing, Believe anything, Forget everything), 1987/2014' https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.164787.html Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

9 Tate, Tate Kids 'Who is Lorna Simpson?', U/A. https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-lorna-simpson#:~:text=Lorna%20Simpson%20was%20one%20of,people%2C%20women%20and%20gay%20people. Accessed Jan 17, 2024

10 H Zuckerman, 'Daring as a WOman: An Interview with Lorna Simpson', Nov 10, 2017. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/10/daring-woman-interview-lorna-simpson Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

11 B Hooks, artforum 'LORNA SIMPSON'S WATERBEARER', U/A. https://www.artforum.com/features/lorna-simpsons-waterbearer-204264/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

12 S Porter, RollingStone 'Linder Sterling: ‘Super women are coming into their own’', Dec 11, 2023. https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/news/linder-sterling-super-women-are-coming-into-their-own-35653/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

13 H Hanra, THEFIFTHSENSE 'performance artist and photomontage queen linder sterling tells us about keeping curious', Jan 10, 2017. https://thefifthsense.i-d.co/en_us/article/performance-artist-and-photomontage-queen-linder-sterling-tells-us-about-keeping-curious/ Accessed Jan 17, 2024.

14 Tate, Tate 'Linder', (image: 1976). U/A. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/linder-10844 Accessed Jan 17, 2024

15 T Foot, CamdenNewJournal 'Twitter sensation Cold War Steve art goes on display', Oct 19, 2018. https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/twitter-sensation-cold-war-steve-art-goes-on-display Accessed Jan 17, 2024.