Photo: loganfitzpatrick.com
Written by Kieron Lee
A couple of weeks ago, in one of many random encounters with the cloak and dagger pop-up art gallery scene, I stumbled upon an exhibition run by Belly Kids that was dedicated to the actor Bill Murray, with accompanying colouring book (yes colouring book) and t-shirts to boot. Lets face it, Bill Murray is an alternative icon, the Paul Newman of the fixie Mafia. A God among men. But what is it that resonates with generations of hipsters (ugh) and the A-List alike. It would be easy put it all down to worldwide fame via Ghostbusters through Groundhog Day and a revival sparked by quirky character factory Wes Anderson. Yet something all together different is at play when your watching Bill Murray, as if he understands it all, he has a self awareness not only of himself in his setting but also the general ridiculousness of life itself.
Photo: James Burgess
After the exhibition I took a long flight from London to Tokyo coming in at an ankle exploding 20 plus hours, where I was given a limited choice of films having watched most of them and the others being unwatchable non-sense, one of which, which also seemed to be playing constantly on monitors surrounding me for obvious reasons was Sofia Coppola's 'Lost in Translation'. Ageing actor in sub par distant marriage meets young unhappy wife in equally shitty marriage in isolating language barrier 'zany' country etc. A great film from what I have seen of it having never been able to stay awake through the whole thing, not because of the films quality but just from poor sleeping patterns and the like. But a solid 24 hours of non-stop Bill Murray had interwoven into a dream like state were Bill had become a prophet of modern times. The message was one not of hope or faith but that life is a seemingly endless reel of awkwardness but Mr. Murray helps us in the relief that we are not alone, in spirit at least.
A revival of sorts may be taking place is underground culture in general, from tumblrs to DIY album covers, more and more references to icons, real or otherwise are being used as part and product of the artistic output. Musician Nathan Williams aka the equally vaunted and maligned WAVVES got into a wrangle for using the song title Mickey Mouse on his second LP King Of Beach, along with his song "I Want to Meet Dave Grohl" which displays unashamed adoration for 'the nicest man in rock'. Kate Moss is no stranger to being a style icon and was not only the subject to many variations from street art amateurs and pros alike, from hilarious to down right nasty or political and self-conscious for 'what recession?' premium skate label Supreme's gorilla street wheat paste campaign. The t-shirt that the image was used for originally sold out in minutes and traded for a high mark up between fanatics true to it's edgy roots and people who want to wear whatever Tyler, The Creator is wearing. Simply a picture on a t-shirt itself but the connotations, regarding authenticity and limited run value mirror that of the art world and in this case particularly pop-art. Ironically Warhol's famous Campbell's soup was recently used in the same month as an innovative design for a baseball cap but failed to pick up the same kind of steam as Kate Moss, fashions ultimate aspirational figure it would seem.
Sources of Pop Art III by Sir Peter Blake
Phillip Treacy's show at London fashion week paid homage to the great costume designs of Michael Jackson most iconic costumes and blew everyone away, partly because all of the models were black which in turn opens up another can of worms, as in "why is that so shocking?". But the point being that there is a debate brewing. Is originality dying? The debate in itself is no different form the lovers or haters of the original pop-art movement, were arguably it was in part created to make art in itself more assessable to the mainstream and the potential for art in 'the real world' to exist everywhere, along with being a push for less focus on technical ability more on a playful yet sellable output. This gave birth of course to Sir Peter Blake, Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein, Jasper Johns and the gang. So if a little copyright infringement here and there and the odd 80's or 90's references doesn't become too much for those of us that can actually remember it the first time around, then it could potentially lead to greater things and new icons of our own era. For now I am very satisfied in playing around colouring in Bill Murray's face.
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