Words by Jesse Serwer—
Last year visual artist Kevin Lyons staged a show of his work called Red, Gold & Green for Paris’ Colette gallery, inspired largely by the aesthetics of dancehall and Jamaican music culture. “The language is fantastic and so fun to illustrate and draw; words like “BOOMBASTIC” or ”COLLIE WEED,” Lyons told our Eddie STATS in a Q+A. “The letters are fat and juicy.” Among the works was a series of posters grouping similarly named artists: “SHABBA RANKS. CUTTY RANKS. NARDO RANKS. TIGER RANKS. JUNIE RANKS”; “KING STITT. KING KONG. KING JAMMY. KING TUBBY. KING EDWARDS.”
Our friends at Miss Lily’s Variety have produced a limited run of 20 prints of the former poster, slightly altered with Delly and Gappy Ranks’ names in place of Tiger and Junie. The prints are $155 and available only at the Miss Lily’s Variety storefront on Houston Street in NYC.