I'm really quite sad to hear from our friend Kev aka Strictly Kev that Andy 'Dog' Johnson, brother of Matt Johnson and illustrator of his (The The) record sleeves, has died.
When told I could do anything I wanted for my 'O' level exam, I launched head (but not brain) first into an homage to Andy Dog, whose work I was obsessed with at that time (15, ish).
I practised in secret copying this image, knowing I would have to change the subject matter but keep applying the style to as much stuff as possible. Amazingly, at a time when you did you art exam live under the gaze of your invigilator in one take, I got an A, and quite literally a career was vulgarly kicked off right there and then.
My policy of risky subject matter/awkward style chicanes/do 'the opposite of what you know people like' continues when I'm let off the leash, and my choice of project endangered more than one exam grade over the years*. It was Andy Dog's raucous, cheeky, massively energetic and politically punching-above-my-weight inspiration that set me on the path of most resistance.
Cheers fella, and sorry I was biting your style for a hot minute there.
http://seeingthings.org
*for example:
- "A 3000 Word Essay and Visual Tribute to The Angry Penguins And Realist Painting In Australia In The 1940s" (A level)
- A stage production of Wuthering Heights as the culmination of an illustration degree.
Hmmm.
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