A Modern Peace
I owe so much to this piece as it ignited my spark for doing my own art again and probably gave me my love for icons. I created this piece of work as a self initiated project around 2009. It's entitled: A Modern Peace, and it's in homage to Artist Gerald Holtom who created the original iconic symbol.
I've always been fascinated by the 'Peace' icon Gerald Holtom created in 1958. He did it with the best intention and not for gain, and he never slapped a copyright on it himself. It became iconic for not only his generation but for all of our generations over the next 60+ years. We've seen the original device used in many ways over that time and the power that the symbol has is incredible. It's just so recognisable. It transcends the boundaries of language, religion, colour and creed making it truly iconic and has been adopted by peace movements and causes, especially the CND movement which was I believe was close to Mr Holtom's heart.
I created my work / illustration as a modern variant of the original device, cutting it back to basic shapes, and using shadows to form depth. At the time I was enjoying lots of Peter Saville's work during the FAC period and ingesting much Joy Division so it's more than a little slanted to those inspirations. I guess in time I saw this working as a 3D sculpture that would be illuminated to create the shadow depth. Would be interesting to see.
I further extended the images graphical use as a postcard device to elicit a response after being sick and tired of hearing negative news and talk of what was wrong with the world and people. I left these in galleries and public places for anyone to take, hopefully to write something nice and send to someone they care about. There's a view of the card and it's message below. I thought this might at least lighten heavier times when being read and raise a smile for some, proving the power of human nature.
I also did this as a conduit to mention Mr Holtom as believed people should know who created the symbol in the first place. Interestingly he never put a copyright on the icon. He just wanted people to use it I believe. Now that's powerful.
Justin Robert Price
creative / concepts / design / art / thinking.