An Eye for an Aye?

2012-05-02-Fairey

As political ideologies have been replaced with managerialism, and print replaced by digital,  some say the art of the poster has gone. We think this year it’s due for a revival.

Posters have had huge impact in campaigns and protests for over a hundred years. They cut through the blethers. From culture jamming Adbusters to David McCandless’s Information is Beautiful – visual statements have a force beyond words. In Cuba, political posters have become an art form and everywhere from Che Guevera to allotments propaganda, from the classic feminism of Rosie the Riveter  to Occupy today, they are an enduring form. From the Saatchi & Saatchi ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ ad from 1979 and the Tories disgraceful ‘Are you thinking what we’re thinking?’ series which more recently got some serious graffiti editing.  Now Banksy and street artist Shepard Fairey (below) have taken political art to a whole new level.
So Bella Caledonia, National Collective and Scottish Independence Convention have partnered up to invite designers, visual artists and art students to mark the year of Yes with an iconic image.

There is a £1000 prize money for the best entry.

We are looking for work that inspires and motivates, posters that will become a powerful and constant presence over the summer, helping the public to imagine a better Scotland.

We’ll not only print out 1000’s of the winning poster, we’ll publish all the winners and make them available for you to download and print out.

Competition entries will be judged by our panel (see below). The deadline for entries is: July 27 2014, with an exhibition of the prize winners taking place at National Collective’s Art Cave on Friday August 8 2014.

Entry Guidelines
The original artwork can be using any medium and at any size you wish, however please submitted artwork must meet the following specification:
Format: Portrait
Size: A2 (420 x 594 mm)
Colour: CMYK
Resolution: 300dpi
Please send your artwork to: [email protected]
Our Judging Panel
Elaine C Smith, Convener – Scottish Independence Convention
Ross Colquhon, National Collective
Janie Nicoll, artist
Murdo MacDonald, Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee
Joyce McMillan, arts critic
Calum Colvin, artist
Craig Coulthard, artist

Comments (12)

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  1. There used to be a good poster you could see in the bakeries and butcher shops of Aberdeenshire that said: SAY AYE TAE A PIE

  2. murren59 says:

    Excellent!

  3. stuart muir says:

    My idea of a poster with a simple but effective message would be “15 hours or forever” transposed on to a picture of a Scottish independence ballot paper.

  4. This is a great initiative. We need to spread the message, that we really have no choice but to vote for independence. We need to ask the question – how would you feel if after September, nothing has changed, and we’re still being ruled by the Tories, and will face the worst cuts we’ve ever seen? The only way out of this depression is for us to go it alone.

  5. Walte Masson says:

    Go it alone, that means we cant afford handing billions to a sinking ship 50 million a day ta the eu , independence means we work on our own , not by rotten apples in the euro ,we work for scotland not germany or any other country in the euro? Salmond and sturgeon ta stop using this getting a seat in the top table in brussels, we have enough seats in hollyrood, and they were expensive enough, so if ye cant govern scotland its time ye get yer arses oot the back door , let,the people decide if we want ta start independence giving billions of hard working tax payers money ta the euro for paying the wealthy so get yer thinking caps on afore any vote for independence ,as mc,enroe would say ye cant be serious?

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