2.  What do you think the 27 Club is?  Who are the “people” depicted in the print?

3.  “The 27 Club”  Printed June 19, 2009  Printed by Post Neo Explosionism -Collaborative Art Group consisting of Jermaine Rogers, Justin Hampton, and Emek  Purpose: To conceptualize the phenomena of influential musicians that have parted from the world at age twenty-seven.

4.  Historical Context: Throughout the years, it has been noted that many famous musicians have perished at the young age of twenty-seven. Sometimes mysterious causes are to blame.  Analysis of Title: The impulse for the starting of the club was the high number of prominent 27- year-old musicians dying in a two year span.

5.  Founder of the “Rolling Stones”  It has been said that he could learn to play any instrument in less than 30 minutes.  On July 3, 1969 Jones was found motionless in the bottom of his swimming pool. -Noted that his liver and heart were greatly enlarged due to drug and alcohol use.

6.  Lead singer and songwriter for The Doors.  Considered to be one of the most “charismatic frontmen” of rock.  Died of heart failure. Possibly linked with alcohol and drug use.

7.  Considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock.  Famous for playing a right handed guitar left handed.  He would smash, burn, or destroy his guitar after performances. When asked why he replied-”He had gotten all the sounds out of the guitar that it would ever make.”  Asphyxiated on his own vomit.

8.  Janice lead the way for women in in a male- dominant business.  Started as lead singer with Big Brother, The Holding Company, then later as a solo artist.  She died of a heroin overdose.

9.  Singer, songwriter, guitarist of Nirvana.  He took the grunge movement mainstream.  After the release of Nirvana’s most popular song “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, it made around $550 million-making Nirvana overnight millionaires.  Died of a shotgun wound to the head.

10.  “The most important blues singer of all time.”-Eric Clapton  A legend stands about how Johnson acquired his master skills of the guitar. According to the story, he met up with a large black man at Dockery Plantation and sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the instrument.  Johnson died from drinking whisky laced with strychnine.

11.  The intended audience would be rock and blues fans.  This unexplainable pop-culture phenomena has gained popularity and appreciation among music fans of these genres.

12.  What captures your attention when first looking at the print?

13.  Foreground: -The 5 Musicians(from left to right): Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain  Background: -Robert Johnson: Also known as the “Grandfather of Rock ‘n Roll”, appears in the background among the clouds and imagery of the afterlife.

14.  The image has a symmetrical balance.  Symbolism: The color purple seems to be a dominant color in the print. The figures are framed by a border of purple flowers. The color purple stands for royalty, mystery, and mourning.

15.  The dead musicians are presented as fully-clothed living skeletons with a ghost like appearance symbolizing a living dead persona (their legends live on past death of their human form).  The liquor in Jim Morrison’s and Brian Jones’s hand symbolizes their alcoholism which was a major contributor towards both musicians death along with heavy drug use.

16.  Robert Johnson is depicted with “fallen angel” wings, as well as a devil tail. This is symbolic of the legend of how he sold his soul to the Devil. Also, the color of Johnson is gold. Gold represents idealism, betrayal, and happiness.  Green is also a common color used. Green represents misfortune and renewal.

17.  The image contains both logical (logos) and emotional (pathos) appeal.  Logos: There is an interesting nature in the deaths occurring all at the age of twenty-seven.  Pathos: Death itself brings out a negative emotion however there is a positive side in the remembrance of the rock legends.

18.  The colors purple and gold compliment each other bringing a balance to the artwork.  The background is somewhat unsaturated while the foreground is highly saturated bringing emphasis to the dead musicians.

19.  Alexandre Levy  Nat Jaffe  Jesse Blevin  Rudy Lewis  Dickie Pride  Alan Wilson  Linda Jones  Ron “Pigpen” McKernan-Founder of Grateful Dead  Dave Alexander  Peter Ham  Gary Thain  Helmut Köllen  Chris Bell  D. Boon  Alexander Bashlachev  Jean-Michel Basquiat  Pete de Freitan  And many more..

20.  http://www.forever27.co.uk/27/ http://www.forever27.co.uk/27/  http://www.pne3.com/artwork2009/27_club_ june09.jpg http://www.pne3.com/artwork2009/27_club_ june09.jpg  http://www.the27club.net/ http://www.the27club.net/