Friday, July 13, 2007

Hieroglyphics: Logo #3

Speaking in 2000 to the San Francisco Weekly about the logo he designed in the 1990s for his group Hieroglyphics, Del tha Funkee Homosapien (Ice Cube's cousin, born Teren Delvon Jones on August 12, 1972 in Oakland) recalls, "When I invented that symbol, I never thought it would get this big. I've seen about 20 people with that tattoo. I saw a comic book - like "Clerks" or something - and one of the fools in there had a Hiero shirt on. I saw a Redman and Method Man video, and there's somebody in the crowd with a Hiero shirt on." Then: "When I got older I realized you have to make money somehow, you ain't giving your art away for free." Irony of ironies! Mnemonic devices as successful as this one assume lives of their own, inhabiting a shadowy netherworld of aesthetic flophouses: stickers and patches and Pee Chee folders. You never really get a receipt on those. The circle motif is getting a bit tiresome at this point - logo #4 will be something different. Possibly something oblong.

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