Aug 24, 2011:
@ChieftanMews: #6/10: Which artist of today reminds you of the John Heartfield of yestercentury? (#7 expires Sept 1, #6 expires Sept 8) #rigid #tkol
The sixth of a series of weekly questions Mew’s provides two hashtags with his question along with the information that he will be taking replies until the 8th of September… though what he had planned to do with them is still unknown. #7 refers to a 2nd question ( @ChieftanMews: #7/10: No more hiding: “The atom had a positive, a negative & a neutral” & “Later for the date than the hadron collider” & “I am open.” ?? )
#rigid short for “I’m rigid with excitement” which was a quote from Episode 2 of The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time.
#tkol which is a abbreviation of The King of Limbs.
In this case he asks fans to provide suggestions of contemporary artists who remind them of John Heartfield a German artist who was best known for his political ‘photomontages’ during the 1930-1940s which satirized the Nazi Party. Chieftan Mew’s later tweeted one example of his work entitled ‘O joyful, o blessed, miracle-bringing time.’ featuring a choir of angels wearing gas masks.
Photomontage is a technique for making composite pictures that pre-dates the use of computer software such as Photoshop. Instead the photos where cut and glued by hand to create a new image which was then sometimes photographed in order to create a seamless print.
According to Thom Yorke The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time was named after a John Heartfield collage. You can read more about it in the post about the Christmas image here.
Many of the replies seemed to point towards Banksy the pseudonym for a English graffiti artist famous for his political work and dark humor as a possible contemporary for John Heartfield:
( Source: Banksy.co.uk )
We’d love to hear what answers other people sent to Mew’s ‘quiz’!
Let us know in the comments or email muggs@ersmenoo.com.
Hunting Mews 