Keep Calm Liz

Medium: Hand signed, limited edition serigraph on paper

Edition: #9/15

Year: 2013

Size: 101.0cm x 91.0cm

Good To Know: Unframed, professionally packed, stored flat, condition report available upon request

Arty-Fact: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939. In preparation for the Second World War it was intended to raise morale. Around 2.5 million copies were printed, but not one of them was posted.

Fast-forward six decades and one of the remaining posters was discovered by a bookseller who bought a box of old books (where the poster was hidden) at auction. It was put up over the cash register in the seller’s bookshop, Northumberland’s Barter Books.

Little did they know how fast the “Keep Calm” craze would spread. The slogan, in its purest form, has become a symbol of nationalism. “Keep calm and carry on” is to Brits what “I heart NY” is to New Yorkers.

Mr. Brainwash practices an irreverent brand of appropriation characterized by the use of copyrighted images from history, popular culture, and art history. The artist subtly alters the picture or its context, mischievously undermining the tone of the source material.

“Keep Calm Liz” is a great example of his technique.