Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Bastards


Pure Evil - or Charles Edwards to his mam and dad - is an artist and musician from Wales now residing in that there London. The above print held at the V&A and titled Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Bastards is a subversion of Peter Blake's famous design for the Beatles album. Already a much parodied image, Pure Evil's approach is to replace the Beatles' favourite icons with a blood-curdling historical line-up of dictators, despots, and serial killers such as Hitler, Margaret Thatcher, and Ted Bundy. His piece was originally made with a scalpel and glue in 2007. A limited edition run of 300 prints was issued, each carrying the Pure Evil motif and a fingerprint. According to his website he created Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Bastards in his parents shed in the Black Mountains after having his US visa revoked. You can check out and purchase more of his outstanding prints here - I particularly like his Richard Burton's Nightmare and his JF Kennedy's Nightmare if anyone wants to buy me a slightly unsettling Christmas present.