OUGD603 - 27 Club

The 27 Club is a celebration of the music created by those who died at the age of 27, including greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.

The Brief

Create artwork for one of the musicians in the 27 club. The brief is open and is a chance to be as creative as you like, experimenting with different mediums. Our only restriction is that the size has to be 27x27cm. Think about the focus for the piece, could it be about a musician as a whole or focus on a specific phase of their life. For example it could be Jimi Hendrix before Woodstock or Brian Jones' response to Sgt. Pepper. You could even focus in on a specific song like 'Light mY Fire' by The Doors or Jim Morrison. Find some hidden gems, but please ensure your entry is respectful as the subject could be viewed as sensitive in nature.

All work submitted will be presented to a panel of judges, with the shortlisted pieces being displayed in the exhibition and used within a small publication.
Deliverables:
- 27 x 27 cm artwork
- A short rationale for the piece

Deadline: 31/03/2018, 3pm

Initial Research

Looked at the list of artists who are part of the 27 Club:

Dave Alexander - Bassist for The Stooges
Nat Jaffe - Swing jazz pianist
Kurt Cobain
Amy Winehouse
Jim Morrison - The Doors
Jimi Hendrix
Brian Jones - The Rolling Stones

In order to stand out through the judging process, I intend to avoid the obvious. To achieve this, I avoided artists such as Hendrix and Winehouse as I think they will be popular submissions.

Dave Alexander

The Stooges - Grunge/Punk Rock

Raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the band sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances.

Credited for the following songs:

We Will Fall
Little Doll
Dirt
1970

Goose Lake in 1970 was Alexander's downfall after becoming too intoxicated to play the set. After just about finishing the set, Alexander was fired from the band.

His nickname was Zander

Meaning: Protector of men

Dropped out of junior high for a bet
Lasted 45 mins on his first day

Looked at a variety of betting forms:

Identified that no matter what betting company, the composition of the betting slips remains the same.

Converted the betting form into a square format:

Not sure what the copy / bet will actually say?

Edited the text

Added 18/1 to represent the odds as Alexander would have been 18 years old going into senior high. 

Total stake is 'The Stooges' to represent Alexander's gamble to drop out of school and pursue a career in rock and roll. 

Contrasted type weight and serif/sans-serif in order to reflect the diverse influences for Alexander's innovative bass playing. 

Times / Gotham Bold:

Univers 85 Extra Black / Gotham Bold:

After feedback from one of my peers, it was suggested that the composition using Univers 85 Extra Black had more dominance and the contemporary sans-serif typeface imitates a modern betting company. The large stroke gives ties the composition together.

To add further depth to my outcome, I appropriated the EAN number to show the dates of his birth and death:

Three colour screen print:
Divided the composition into colours in preparation for screen print:

Blue:

Black:

Yellow:

Screen Printing

Stock:

Printed on a variety of stocks inspired by the ones used for betting slips - The stock is predominantly low quality and gsm which gives it a disposable aesthetic. The print quality is also poor. 

• Sugar paper and graph paper

As a response to my research into betting slips, I tried sugar and graph paper in order to replicate the qualities of the original betting slip. However this could be detrimental to my submission as the low gsm doesn't allow the print to support itself which will be problematic when hanging in the exhibition.

• Watercolour 

A high gsm and textured stock to overcome the flimsiness of the sugar paper. The high grain should pick up unique textures. 

• Cartridge Paper - White / Cream / Pink

Registration

Vernacular Type

Wrote directly onto the screen print as if someone had written a bet on a betting slip. 

I practiced using a variety of pens from biro, fine liner and permanent marker. 

From gaining feedback from my peers, I used a permanent marker as it is clearly visible and take up a lot of space. I found using a biro / fine liner was too small for the enlarged form. 

Used rough handwriting to reflect someone jotting down a bet on a betting slip. 

Final Submission

Evaluation

Thoroughly enjoyed researching into the 27 Club and focusing on the life of Dave Alexander. The majority of information on Alexander focused on his exit from The Stooges and cause of death from drug abuse, however I didn’t want to focus on the negative aspects of Alexander’s life. The only personal information that I could find was his knickname of which I used to brand the betting company.

Limited visual research as the outcome was based on my interpretation of Alexander’s life, however this meant I wasn’t influenced by a visual style that wasn’t appropriate and allowed me to focus on my own original outcome. Being familiar with The Stooges music allowed me to reflect the raw qualities of the music through traditional print. The benefits of screenprinting the outcome allowed me to test print onto a variety of stocks in a variety of colours. Although the outcome doesnt boast a beautiful aesthetics, its low quality and familiarity gives it a certain charm.

Pleased to have an honourable mention from the exhibition. Imbedding the personal information into the barcode and other subtle details was received well by the judges and demonstrates how the outcome has been informed by my research.