Arturo Vega (13 October 1947 – 8 June 2013) was a
Mexican-American graphic designer best known for his long association with the
punk rock group
The Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United S ...
.
He designed the group's iconic logo, and was sometimes called the fifth Ramone. Officially dubbed the group's ''artistic director'', he was also charged with designing
stage lighting for concerts, supervised sales of shirts and other merchandise and was the band's sometimes spokesman.
In 1973, Vega became friends with
Dee Dee Ramone
Douglas Glenn Colvin (September 18, 1951 – June 5, 2002), better known by his stage name Dee Dee Ramone, was an American musician. He was the bassist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. Throughout the band's existence, he wa ...
(born Douglas Colvin) whose girlfriend lived in Vega's apartment building.
[ During the band's existence between 1974 and 1996, Vega attended all but a handful of their over 2,200 concerts.][
Vega's logo for the Ramones was inspired by the U.S. Presidential Seal, with several alterations including the band member's names arranged in a circle, and the eagle gripping a ]baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...
rather than a quiver of arrows (a reference to their song "Beat on the Brat" and Johnny Ramone's love of baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
).[ He adapted the Presidential Seal to reflect his belief that Ramones were "the ultimate all-American band”.][
]
Career
Inspired by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
, Piet Mondrian or Roy Lichtenstein in his artistic approach, Arturo Vega likes to play with shapes, words and bright colors and is thus close to the pop art movement.
A photograph of the Ramones by Vega was exhibited at MoMa in 2014 as part of the exhibition Designing Modern Women 1890 - 1990. In 2017, a retrospective exhibition was held at Howl
Howl most often refers to:
*Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species
*Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg
Howl may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film
* ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...
Art in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, entitled "Empire: An Arturo Vega Retrospective".
Several exhibitions and institutions are linked to Vega's work. In 2008, the artist moved to Berlin to mount the permanent exhibition of the Ramones Museum in the central district of Berlin-Mitte
Mitte () (German for "middle" or "center") is a central locality () of Berlin in the eponymous district () of Mitte. Until 2001, it was itself an autonomous district.
Mitte proper comprises the historic center of Alt-Berlin centered on the ch ...
. About Vega, the Ramones Museum team says: "He was constantly urging us to shake things up and move things around, to see things differently, to experiment and not to keep anything set in stone. As he did in his own work. e would constantly push us to change or move things around, encourage us to experiment and not hold on to things for too long. Just as he did with his own work.
The non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
Howl! Arts, located in New York City's East Village and founded in 2015 by Jane Friedman, offers regular retrospectives that include Vega's work. A great friend of Friedman's and one of the founding pillars of Howl Arts Gallery, Vega will in fact donate her work to the gallery. The exhibition Icons, Iconoclasts and Outsiders, held from September 2021 to March 2022, includes several of his paintings,
References
External links
Official website
The Legacy of Arturo Vega, Art Director of the Ramones
discussion at Queens Museum, June 19, 2016 (YouTube)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vega, Wes
1947 births
2013 deaths
American artists
American artists of Mexican descent
Mexican artists
Ramones