Robert Longo

Clearly one of my favorite music periods is the post-punk era from the mid 70s to early 80s. One particular movement during this era was the New York No Wave art and music scene. It's where experimentation, atonal noise, repetitive drones, saxophone squawks and violent confrontations were featured at punk rock clubs like Max's Kansas City. Legendary bands like Sonic Youth, the Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and Suicide were all sired in this movement's underground cool.

Robert Longo created his most seminal works during this time, called "Men in the Cities," where he crafted images of New York's best dressed and coolest people writhing, twisting, falling and dancing.

I noticed a lot of fashion magazines seem to really like his work. This makes a lot of sense. The movement and clothes are all well stylized (Paper Magazine did a fashion spread a few months ago inspired by his work). I always felt that Prada should have asked him to do their campaigns.

This image is one of his most famous

The famous cover of Glenn Branca's "The Ascension."

Longo went on to do some other amazing pieces during the 90s, like his series "Black Flag" and "Bodyhammers and Death Stars." He even dabbled in some directing (New Order's video for "Bizarre Love Triangle" and he directed blockbuster flop Johnny Mnemonic).

Pieces from:

"Black Flags"

"Bodyhammers and Death Stars"

A magnum with a long barrel

"Monsters."

His studio.

A recent drawing featured in Purple Magazine. Issue #11 has a great interview with him.

Mad Men's opening credits definitely pulled influences from Longo.

images from Robert Longo's website and Purple Magazine

Style Iconoclast: Linder Stering

Visual/Performance artist and musician, Linder Sterling (born Linda Mulvey) is not only a brilliant artist, but she is also a stunningly beautiful, creative, unique and progressive dresser. As an artist, she doesn't conform to trends expected of women during the late 70s/early 80s. She dresses for comfort and herself. She understands the female form, her form, and dresses on her own terms and rules.

As one of the most important figures in the Manchester post-punk scene, Sterling's montages of home appliances and porno mag clippings turned first wave punk rockers (still a very masculine, very sexist world at the time) on its ass, making bold statements of how women and their form become commodities (she is especially famous for the Buzzcock's 7" cover of Orgasm Addict shown below).
She showed hard-as-nails Manchester punks that she was tougher and lewder and more shocking than anyone in the scene. She donned a dress made of raw meats while her band Ludus performed at the Hacienda (in protest for vegetarianism) and placed tampons soaked with red paint on every table of a rough club where she would get shit for being a female performer (the tampons disgusted and scared all the guys in the club).

One of my favorites


Audrey Mascina and Jerome Sans from Liquid Architecture own two pieces from Linder’s 1977 “Pretty Girl Series.” They were featured in one of the latest Selby photo-logs.


Untitled, 1977 Magazine and newspaper collage on paper; 8 x 8 1/2 inches


A flyer for the Buzzcocks (Howard was, at one time, her boyfriend)




The famous Buzzcocks image


The Pickpocket cover


Riding the Rag cover

When she wasn't shocking people with dresses of disgusting meat, she wore her mussed, eyebrows heavy and raised, simple black sweaters, lace dresses and sliced asymmetrical skirts. Her uniform was very punk, but completely uncliche and chic.

Tauba Auerbach

photo by John Lee

Not too long ago I picked up an issue of ANPQuarterly (Vol 2. Issue 1) early last month featuring an article on SF native Tauba Auerbach and her typography, calligraphy, prints of anagrams and her most recent work presenting the chaos of human error when crafting repetitive patterns. I instantly fell for her work, not just because it is visually appealing, but because it is smart and expresses a lot of concepts and ideas that I have been interested in studying for the past few years.

Since I was 16, I've always been interested in mathematical, repetitive patterns and semiotics, a study of how signs essentially become a process of communication (language), meaning and shape our understanding of reality. I believe that Auerbach has found an excellent way of comunicating these ideas as an art form (besides contemporary composers like Steve Reich). I'm glad she has been getting a lot of press and acclaim since the article. Here are some images of her work that I admire.

and one of her beautiful typewriter designs

(all photos courtesy of taubaauerbach.com)