Today's artwork challenge brings together 2 heavyweights from the punk rock art scene, one from the United States and one from the U.K. Like the
Repka vs. Seagrave challenge in January and the
Frazetta vs. Vallejo matchup that followed, we will be looking at several examples of each artists' work before making the final call. Nicholas Blinko and Brian "Pushead" Schroeder have both made the successful move from illustrating the covers of punk 7"s at the beginning of the 80's to hanging art in respected galleries in modern times. Both artists sang in influential bands in the early 80's, and both have grown to be icons in both music and the visual arts.
So buckle up, kids. This is going to be grueling.
In this corner...
Brian "Pushead" Schroeder
Band: Septic Death (1981-1986)
Born: Boise, Idaho, 1965 or '66 (accounts differ)
Currently resides: Boise, Idaho (?), maybe SF.
Style: Straightforward horror-themed punk-metal fare. Sometimes colorful, but mostly B&W in the 80's. Current metal artist John Baizley bites Pushead's style pretty hard.
Common themes: Skulls, gore, skateboarding, horror, psychedelia.
Past clients: Metallica, The Misfits, Septic Death, Hirax, Corrosion of Conformity, Dr. Octagon, Prong, Thrasher Magazine and Nike.
3D model based on Pushead art:
Pushead-designed skateboards:
BAND ART:
ALBUM ART:Dr. Octagon -
Dr. Octagonecologyst
Hirax -
Raging Violence (I've bagged on this one
before.)
Corrosion of Conformity -
Animosity
And in this corner...
Nick Blinko
Band: The Magits and The S-Haters (1977-1980), Rudimentary Peni (1980-present)
Born: Sept. 4th, 1961, somewhere in England.
Currently resides: Abbots Langley, UK.
Style: Dense, paranoia-inducing compositions with minimal use of color. Comparisons between Blinko's work and that of
James Ensor are frequent.
Common themes: Lovecraft, Catholicism, insanity, paranoid schizophrenia.
Past clients: Rudimentary Peni, Iron Lung, and Coil.
ALBUM ART:Rudimentary Peni -
Death Church
Rudimentary Peni -
Farce EP
Rudimentary Peni -
No More Pain EP
Rudimentary Peni -
Cacophony
Rudimentary Peni -
Cacophony (alternate cover: Outer Himalayan release)
Iron Lung -
Sexless/No Sex LP
The call: This is a tough one, due to their vastly different approaches to creating art. I'm going to have to put my money on Blinko, though, due to the complexity and detail in his work. He also never sold out and designed shoes for Nike.
But what do YOU GUYS think?
Crowbar are part of that whole NOLA metal thing, and have inbred with such bands as Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual, and Sourvein. And while I'm not much of a fan of that whole "scene", I do believe that Crowbar stands head and shoulders above the rest of the pack musically, especially on this, their debut album. Crowbar had much more of a Melvins/Harvey Milk sound than their Jock Rock contemporaries, and hence, are much more listenable. Plus, they first came to public attention on an episode of Beavis And Butthead (like so many other metal bands of the 90's). B&B were stoked on Crowbar because they were all really fat and their singer (Kirk) looked like he was taking a dump whilst singing. How rad is that?
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