Above is an image by illustrator Jim Phillips, called ‘Screaming Hand’. It’s one of the most famous pieces of graphic design in the skateboarding culture, a piece of marketing that would still be in use as a company icon twenty-five years later.
Such is the fame of this image that Phillips himself relates this tale of an encounter with a skateboarder who had damaged his car:
“I looked at my car, and then at him, as he picked up his skateboard. I said, “I think I can see a dent!”
He looked at me in horror, and said “Oh no! No way… You’re not gonna pin that on me!” I followed with “I think I should be able to see your license!”
He looked even more horrified. “No way man! No way you’re gonna make me pay!”
I was feeling a little cocky, and wondered if I could pull it off, when I yelled, “LISTEN!… you don’t realise who you’re dealing with! I CREATED SCREAMING HAND!!!”
I held up my left hand, making it look anguished like my famous sticker logo for Speed Wheels Santa Cruz.
From Skateboard Stickers, by Munsen and Cardwell
After this, the skater pulls out his wallet, shows his license, and vows to always buy Santa Cruz skateboards. Can you image this happening with any of the top-flight contemporary artists of the art world? Perhaps Jeff Koons (“I CREATED PUPPY!!!”) or Damien Hirst?
Screaming Hand was adopted by the skateboard culture, and still to this day has an iconic status. It’s beyond my ability to say why, but it’s popularity is undeniable. Strangely, the unpopularity of contemporary art is also undeniable, as is it’s inability to create objects beloved of those outside the subculture of art appreciation.
Contemporary art is also usually ignorant of visual culture outside of it’s own milieu, unless it is “appropriating”. Therefore, the stunning imagery of Phillips goes unnoticed, as do many other striking images from contemporary culture. Although Fine Art prides itself on a visual language, with the advent of the internets acceleration of visual culture, it has retreated to a style-less ghetto of unskilled design and tasteless tat. But, as Screaming Hand shows us, there are other cultures.
Comments
2 Comments so far. Comments are closed.….not to be inflamatory or contentious atall here (but i’ve admittedly had a few beers and am on my art-high-horse)… but to say that “the unpopularity of contemporary art is … undeniable” lies in absolute contradiction to the visitor number to Frieze Art Fair (60,000 in 3 years) or Tate Modern (with over 5 million visitors in 2009 alone)….
Ok, but, I know that isn’t enough… those thousands could all have been within the “subculture of art appreciation” (or hovering, moth like, at the brink of the alluring, illuminated candle of obscure, even incomprehensible, art)…
But… first of all, art is NOT a public service… it does not have to appeal to the majority, be entirely accesible/ attractive/ comprehensible….even interesting… if that was the purpose of Art all Artists would basically be illustrators (or Jack Vetrianos, nailed comfortably and kitschly to your living room walls)… Art exists at the liminal edges, it is outside of the every day and, therefore, can reflect/comment/open up new perspectives upon it, or even new worlds entirely (“Any authentic work of Art must start an argument between the Artist and His Audience” Dame Rebecca west)… That’s not to say it’s correct to have an Art which is insular, elitist and self-referential… But ( I believe) it is important to have art which is uncomfortable and always pushing the envelope (just look back to how the Impressionists/ minimalists were recieved by the public at the time etc)…
To say that Contemporary art is “ignorant of visual culture outside of it’s own milieu” is well, pretty insulting, but also, simultaneously, fairly understandable… I wouldn’t say that the contemporary Art as represented by Art Review or Flash Art Magazines (or the latest Saatchi show) is “styleless”, it has it’s own style (something for another conversation entirely) which can be highly supercillious and insincere at times but, shouldn’t be rejected on the basis of it not being as immediately understandable or appealing as Phillips’ Screaming Hand… and if you’d like examples of artists who absolutely DO expose the public to the existence of ‘other’ (i.e. underground/ alternative/ skater/ ethnic cultures) just look at the following ‘contemporary artists’… Ant Macari, Takashi Murakami, Chris Ofili, Adriana Varejao, Chatchai Puipia, Jonathan Meese…..etc….
Art isn’t about taste. Can anyone honestly assess the quality of a song, painting or sculpture by how popular it is?…. that may work for the record charts… but not for good, honest, innovative music….or art….
….i could go on… but it’s probably bed time now….
You’ve raised some really good points in your comment Iris, which would probably take a post longer than the original to go through and reply to properly!
I should say that I’m obviously fond of contemporary art, and that it’s not supposed to be a public service – but that the more interesting works of the past few decades are always the ones that are outward facing (did I already mention Jeremy Deller?) and the ones that are least interesting recycle previously used tropes from the fine art world.
Sadly, the one point that I have to bring you up on is the unpopularity of art within the UK. Back in 2004, when the Momart fire happened, press reaction was pretty much “yeah, so?” to the destruction of what are either overpriced art baubles or timeless classics (or, rarely, both at the same time).
The success of the Tate or art festivals doesn’t indicate that art is popular, it merely indicates that if you build a tourist attraction, tourists will come. There’s very little interaction or consideration of the forms or ideas behind the art pieces displayed; in fact, at peak times at the Tate, or during Frieze Art Fair, I doubt it’s possible to do more than move through a crowded room which just happens to have some art in it.
This passive consumerisation is something that Phillips’ work moves against – by even knowing of the existence of Screaming Hand, you’ve entered into a contract that makes you “against” the hegemony of the standard order. Skateboarding is not a crime.