Officially on sale from the 1st of August 2021.
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About the artists:
Jordan Baseman is a visual artist and filmmaker. He received a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an MA from Goldsmith's College, University of London. Baseman is currently the Reader in Time Based Media, Senior Tutor in Moving Image at the Royal College of Art, London.
Baseman has a long history of creating projects in collaboration with UK-based and international, not-for-profit and public institutions. The artworks are installations, audio works, and single-screen films. Jordan Baseman’s films are frequently featured in international exhibitions and film festivals.
Jordan Baseman is represented by Matt’s Gallery London.
Frank Baseman is a Graphic Designer (Baseman Design Associates), Letterpress Printer (Base Press), and Professor in the Visual Communication Design program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, where he has taught since 1998. He received a BA from Penn State University and an MFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. His work has received recognition from numerous national and international communication organizations, design exhibitions and publications.
About the poster:
The Summer 2021 Smiley Face image was originally made by my brother Frank for a letterpress publication that he was producing.
Currently, in the United Kingdom, the Smiley Face speaks to most people of rave culture and the 2nd Summer of Love from the late 1980s. The original Smiley Face itself was made by graphic artist Harvey Ross Ball, who in 1963 had been hired by an insurance company to create posters to cheer up employees after a particularly difficult year. In the early 1970s the Have a Nice Day smiley and maxim were everywhere across the United States. Everywhere. Stickers, buttons, badges, posters, t-shirts appeared everywhere... Almost overnight. The Have a Nice Day smiley actually started out as a Have a Happy Day smiley and was coined by two brothers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were the ones who made and sold the stickers, buttons, badges, posters, t-shirts…
I love the Smiley Face. The stupid, joyous, Smiley Face. Over the past 18 months, I have thought a lot about that stupid, joyous Smiley Face. Nirvana’s Wasted Smiley Face. When I saw my brother’s smiley, I immediately knew that I wanted to steal it, to use it as the foundation for this poster. The colors for our Summer 2021 Smiley Face are rooted in the Philadelphia Sunflowers (one of five Sunflower paintings). Me and two of my brothers were born in Philadelphia. The Sunflowers painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art are really wild, bursting out all over the place. Their energy is startling.
It is my hope that Summer 2021 brings some joy to the neighborhood of the Van Gogh House, to the School across the street, to the people walking/passing by. Even if everyone thinks it’s stupid, it’s difficult not to smile in return.
- Jordan Baseman
Poster details:
420 x 594 mm (A2)
Digital Print on 230gsm Matt Paper
Edition of 45 (plus 5 APs)
Postage and Packaging:
- Collection from 87 Hackford Road is free and can be selected at checkout
- Royal mail - 3 to 5 business days £6
- Europe - Royal Mail International Standard - £7.50
- Rest of the world - International Standard - £16.30