God Save Jamie Reid

Q. Who exactly is Jamie Reid

A. Jamie Reed is the artist whose radical cut outs and collages defined the punk movement in the 1970s. His picture of the Queen wearing a safety pin through her lips - used in the publicity campaign for 'God Save the Queen', the Sex Pistols' contribution to the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977 - remains one of the most enduring images of the late 20th century.

Q. Is he a trained artist

A. Born in 1947 and raised in suburbia, the Jackson Pollock-obsessed Reid started at Croydon Art College in 1964 where, he says, he was 'a typically obnoxious young art student'. When the Paris student riots of 1968 hit the headlines, he and fellow Croydon students, who included Malcolm McLaren, were inspired by the slogans and actions of the Situationist International, the movement which played a vital political, artistic and philosophical role in the action. Their slogans, such as 'Demand the impossible' and 'Imagination is seizing power' were a very visible part of the revolution...

Q. Situationist International

A famous quote defining the movement's philosophy comes from Guy Debord, one of the prime movers of the Situationists: 'In society where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.' Make sense to you

Q. And, Reid...

A. Reid became politicised as a result and became involved in radical, agit-prop magazines, notably the Suburban Press, which he co-founded in 1970. Partly as a result of financial constraints he developed a technique of using cut out letters and photographs from newspapers and magazines - beginning to sound familiar

Q. So how did he get involved with the Sex Pistols

A. In 1976 he heard from his old chum Malcolm: 'Got these guys. Interested in working with you again.' These guys turned out to be the Sex Pistols. His ground-breaking work with the Pistols is now part of the modern vernacular, but in 1976, to see a ripped Union Jack held together with safety pins was eye-opening to say the least.

Naturally the tabloids screamed 'sedition', which was exactly the effect desired.

Reid's day-glo-pink and yellow design for the Sex Pistols' album - combined with the use of the word 'bollocks' in the title, which in itself prompted a court case, until a judge decreed that it was not obscene - was shockingly new. Naturally WH Smith, Boots and Woolworths refused to stock it and it shot to number one.

Q. What has he been doing since the late 1970s

A. Reid became involved with political movements, such as the anti-Poll Tax and anti-Criminal Justice Act campaigns. he has also worked with other punk bands, notably the Dead Kennedys. In 1989 Reid designed the poster for the London's Institute of Contemporary Art touring retrospective of the Situationist International.

Peace is Tough is a touring exhibition of Reid's work that started in 1989 when a gallery in Tokyo asked him to do a retrospective. It was only the second exhibition that he had ever done and he decided to keep it going. It's still on the road.

Q. Quite a legacy

A. Jamie Reid's work demonstrated the power of graphic design in the music industry and opened the door to a new generation of British designers. They used the creative freedom of the music industry as a showcase for vibrant design, unaffected by corporate compromise. Their influence has spread beyond music to fashion, the media and consumer packaging.

Reid considers that punk is still relevant today and that the DIY idea has never really gone away.

Q. Not to be confused with

A. Jeremy Reed, the poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, performer and keeper of the flame of fin-de-sircle Paris and London decadence.

For more on the Situationist International go to

http://www.wcnet.org/~swilbur/culture/SI_Theses.html

and

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~rkeehan/si/situ.html

For more on Arts & Literature click here

By Simon Smith