Jamie Reid, British artist and graphic designer, has died aged 76. Reid’s subversive body of work most famously included album artwork for the Sex Pistols, with his distinctive, bold aesthetic and playful defacing of Cecil Beaton’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II shaping a generation of punk.
Jamie Reid
Born in London in 1947, Reid attended Wimbledon Art School aged 16, followed by Croydon Art School, where he met Malcolm McLaren, who was to become the Sex Pistols’ manager.
Reid brought to his artwork a preoccupation with political issues, from the justice system to nuclear weapons. His bold graphic design referenced ransom notes, with cut-and-paste letters appearing to be snipped from newspapers, while his collage style lent a jumble of colours and forms to the covers of the Sex Pistol’s album Never Mind the Bollocks and single ‘Anarchy in the UK’.
Later in his career, Reid worked with street artist Shepard Fairey and, in 1987, punk historian Jon Savage on a book of his works. ‘His ability to render complex ideas in eye-catching visuals was [the Sex Pistols’] perfect accompaniment,’ Savage has posted following Reid’s passing. In a statement, Reid’s gallerist John Marchant Gallery added: ‘Artist, iconoclast, anarchist, punk, hippie, rebel and romantic. Jamie leaves behind a beloved daughter Rowan, a granddaughter Rose, and an enormous legacy.’
Today, Reid’s works can be found in the Tate Britain, New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Houston's Museum of Fine Art.
-
Marine house on the west coast of Canada offers a serene collection of living spacesOpenspace Architecture’s Marine House is a meticulously crafted and unashamedly modern design that makes the most of its waterside site in West Vancouver
-
‘He challenged the way we see things’: JW Anderson’s collaboration with Michael Clark has arrived
The JW Anderson x Michael Clark collection sees designer Jonathan Anderson pay homage to the radical British dancer and choreographer who rose to prominence in the 1980s
-
Tad.atelier’s Urban Houses project in Ho Chi Minh City explores shared and private space
Joining the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023 is Tad.atelier from Vietnam, the exciting emerging architecture studio behind this Ho Chi Minh City project
-
Remembering Phyllida Barlow (1944 – 2023): a titanic force of British sculpture
We look back on the life and work of Phyllida Barlow, revered British sculptor, educator and Hauser & Wirth artist who has passed away aged 78
-
Remembering New York artist Daniel Brush, 1947 – 2022
In tribute to Daniel Brush, who has died aged 75, we revisit this 2020 Wallpaper* profile of the elusive New York artist by jewellery historian Vivienne Becker, who unravelled the secrets of his singular designs for her book, ‘Daniel Brush: Jewels Sculpture’
-
Remembering artist Ashley Bickerton (1959 – 2022)
Ashley Bickerton, known for his subversive, conceptual takes on consumerism, has died aged 63. We explore his life, work, and extraordinary studio, photographed in 2017 when Wallpaper* US director Michael Reynolds and Stephen Kent Johnson visited the artist
-
Remembering Pierre Soulages (1919-2022), a pioneer of post-war abstraction
Pierre Soulages, the pioneering French printmaker, sculptor and ‘painter of black’, has died aged 102
-
A tribute to William Klein (1928-2022), legendary photographer of urban life
William Klein, the American-French artist responsible for transforming the worlds of fashion photography, street photography and cinema verité, has died in Paris aged 96
-
Remembering the mind-bending art of Dan Graham (1942–2022)
American artist and writer Dan Graham, whose hybrid output warped perceptions and defied genre has died in New York aged 79
-
The remarkable life of artist Carmen Herrera: 1915-2022
Carmen Herrera, the Cuban-born American artist whose experiments with space and colour blazed a trail in geometric abstraction, has died in New York aged 106
-
Remembering Lawrence Weiner (1942–2021)
We pay tribute to American conceptual art pioneer Lawrence Weiner – known for his philosophical heft, linguistic dexterity and political candour – who has passed away aged 79
