Jamie Hewlett

At the High Museum on Friday,  an installation featuring a giant arrangement of speakers put me in mind of one of my favorite cartoonists, Jamie Hewlett. Most likely everyone in our class is aware of his work, he is one half of the cartoon music group Gorillaz. The fictional band members are visually 2-dimensional drawings collaged with our 3-dimensional reality. Inspired my a dismal afternoon spent watching Mtv with his roommate musician Damon Albarn, they invented Gorillaz to be guerilla's interrupting the pop world, a sort of graffiti for TV. They aren't the first time Hewlett has broken through culturally on the world stage, in the 90's his character Tank Girl was developed into an awful movie, and although it bombed, the character became a significant fashion icon of the era. The cartoon charm of Hewlett's characters serve to mask the darker concerns of his work, like a candy coating. They are often comically armed to the teeth, set against the backdrop of a cultural cesspool in the throes of environmental catastrophe. He often appropriates well known commercial branding, altering the logo/spelling for satirical ends, much like his forefathers in Mad Magazine.  His graphic design frequently plays with culturally iconic imagery, wherein his updated version serves as a counterpoint, puncturing originals commercial gloss.  Hewlett was named the Design Museum's "Designer of the Year" in 2006, and shared the Ivor Novello award for "Songwriter of the Year" with his Gorillaz collaborator Damon Albarn.  While he considers himself a cartoonist, he has worked as a designer for stage, film, fashion, and advertising; in all capacities he succeeds in maintaining his point of view, to the degree that his entire body of work is of a piece.

For some reason the embeds aren't working. Here's an interview with Hewlett, and a Gorillaz video exemplifying his key characteristics. 

Tank Girl, Get the Freebies

Gorillaz stage designed by Hewlett, costume designs for Monkey: Journey to the West, a collaboration with the Beijing Opera.

inspired by the very real phenomenon, the Gorillaz live on a trash patch floating in the ocean

advertising campaigns, very much in line with his cartoon universe

work with charitable organizations, very much in line with his cartoon universe