Modern Heroes Illustrated

As an art form, music surpasses visual still art in terms of power and public awareness. Its innate ability to reach the masses explains why people like Paul McCartney and Jay-Z are more widely recognized than, say, Andy Warhol, Frank Gehry or even Pablo Picasso. In short, music, like film, has star-making power.

But while music is what permeates the masses, it's the still visual artists that immortalize musicians in the public eye. Artists tend to be remembered in one or two truly significant images: the Rolling Stone cover of a nude John Lennon kissing Yoko Ono; a blissfully high Bob Marley, eyes closed, smoking a joint; Michael Jackson on reclining in a white suit on the cover of Thriller; and Run-DMC, b-boy stances, all black, gold chains. What are some of your favorite musician photos?

Today, a couple of examples of visual artists capturing and paying homage to their cultural heroes were released. While some of them, especially the Simpsonized hip-hop heroes, may not stand the test of time, others might, and all will at least evoke memories.

The first one is the above illustration titled "Ruthless" by Mike Orduna which pays homage to the late Eazy-E who pioneered the gangsta rap movement as a member of NWA. You might recognize Orduna's style. He did the cover of J Dilla's posthumous Jay $tay Paid album as well as artwork for Generation Kill, The Hurt Locker and Blu & Exile.

Next up is Shepard Fairey's (the guy responsible for "the" Obama poster) print to commemorate Jordan's induction to the Hall of Fame. He's apparently making a whole series of them as well, so be on the look out for those.


This last one is more for humor than memory lane. The kids at Format Mag have Simpsonized some of the biggest rap stars of all time as part of their "No Homer" series. Click here to see the rest.