Cool S

Last updated
S-cool.svg
S-cool-howto.svg
A drawing of the Cool S and a four-step guide to drawing one

The Cool S, also known as the Universal S, is a graffiti sign in popular culture that is typically doodled on children's notebooks or graffitied on walls. The exact origin of the Cool S is unknown, [1] but it became prevalent around the early 1970s as a part of graffiti culture. [2] [3]

Contents

Shape

The Cool S consists of 14 line segments, forming a stylized, pointed S-shape. It has also been compared to the infinity symbol. [4] The tails (pointy ends) of the S appear to link underneath so that it loops around on itself in the same way as the infinity symbol does. [5] The Cool S has no reflection symmetry, but has 2-fold rotational symmetry.

History

The exact origin of the symbol is unclear. [6]

Jon Naar's photographs of graffiti in New York City, which were taken in 1973 and published in The Faith of Graffiti in 1974, feature the symbol numerous times, identical to its modern form. Jean-Michel Basquiat's artworks also occasionally have the symbol hidden somewhere, such as in Charles the First , and in the one titled Olive Oil from 1982 it is labelled as the "classic S of graff". [7]

The name "Superman S" comes from a belief that it was a symbol for Superman, whose costume features a stylized S in a diamond shape, but that shape is quite different. Emmy Coats (who has worked alongside Shawn Stussy since 1985) has stated that it was never a symbol of the Californian surf company. [8] In 2010, the company uploaded a video to Vimeo [9] and later to YouTube [10] in which one of Jon Naar's 1973 photographs of the symbol can be seen.[ non-primary source needed ]

The symbol has been trademarked in the United States in July 2020, but Mark May - the trademark owner - states that he does not wish to own the trademark for financial reasons and rather "to preserve it [...] and to truly revel in its irreverence". [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Michel Basquiat</span> American artist (1960–1988)

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fab Five Freddy</span> American artist

Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist. He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He was immortalized in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metal umlaut</span> Gratuitous diacritic used in the names of some rock bands

A metal umlaut is a diacritic that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of mainly hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example, those of Blue Öyster Cult, Queensrÿche, Motörhead, the Accüsed, Mötley Crüe and the parody bands Spın̈al Tap and Green Jellÿ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Haring</span> American artist and social activist (1958–1990)

Keith Allen Haring was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his work includes sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness. In addition to solo gallery exhibitions, he participated in renowned national and international group shows such as documenta in Kassel, the Whitney Biennial in New York, the São Paulo Biennial, and the Venice Biennale. The Whitney Museum held a retrospective of his art in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seen (artist)</span> American graffiti artist

Richard “SEEN” Mirando was born October 17, 1961, in the Bronx, New York. “SEEN” is one of the most well-known graffiti artists in the world. He is often referred to as The Godfather of Graffiti. “SEEN” first started to paint on New York’s subway carriages in the 1970’s. He quickly gained a reputation for producing full-color murals on subway cars like the “HAND OF DOOM“. His paintings ran throughout the city’s five boroughs as moving billboards for the next two decades. He was responsible for hundreds of whole cars painted from top to bottom, many of which have become iconic images of the time.

The infinity symbol is a mathematical symbol representing the concept of infinity. This symbol is also called a lemniscate, after the lemniscate curves of a similar shape studied in algebraic geometry, or "lazy eight", in the terminology of livestock branding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart symbol</span> Symbol representing the heart

The heart symbol is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense. Represented by an anatomically inaccurate shape, the heart symbol is often used to represent the center of emotion, including affection and love, especially romantic love. It is sometimes accompanied or superseded by the "wounded heart" symbol, depicted as a heart symbol pierced with an arrow or as a heart symbol "broken" into two or more pieces, indicating lovesickness.

Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through intentional product scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.

Eric Haze is an American artist, graphic designer and art director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eszter Balint</span> Hungarian-American singer, songwriter, violinist, and actress

Eszter Balint is a Hungarian-American singer, songwriter, violinist, and actress.

Michael Jerome Stewart was an African-American man who received recognition after his death following an arrest by New York City Transit Police for writing graffiti in soft-tip marker or using an aerosol can on a New York City Subway wall at the First Avenue station. His treatment while in police custody and the ensuing trials of the arresting officers sparked debate concerning police brutality and the responsibilities of arresting officials in handling suspects. This was a widely publicized episode in New York City's history of police brutality cases.

Michael Thomas Holman is a New York-based artist, writer, filmmaker and musician. He is also an early 1980s downtown scene subculturalist and creator of the Hip Hop music program Graffiti Rock. Holman is a founding member, along with Jean-Michel Basquiat, of the experimental band Gray.

SAMO is a graffiti tag originally used on the streets of New York City from 1978 to 1980. The tag, written with a copyright symbol as "SAMO©", and pronounced Same-Oh, is primarily associated with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, but was originally developed as a collaboration between Basquiat and Al Diaz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowflake</span> Ice crystals that fall as snow

A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow. Each flake nucleates around a tiny particle in supersaturated air masses by attracting supercooled cloud water droplets, which freeze and accrete in crystal form. Complex shapes emerge as the flake moves through differing temperature and humidity zones in the atmosphere, such that individual snowflakes differ in detail from one another, but may be categorized in eight broad classifications and at least 80 individual variants. The main constituent shapes for ice crystals, from which combinations may occur, are needle, column, plate, and rime. Snow appears white in color despite being made of clear ice. This is due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small crystal facets of the snowflakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stüssy</span> American clothing brand and private company

Stüssy is an American privately held fashion house founded in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. It benefited from the surfwear trend originating in Orange County, California, but was later adopted by the skateboard and hip hop scenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti in Russia</span>

In Russia, graffiti is an ambiguous phenomenon, i.e. considered to be desecration by some, and art by others. It is done for a variety of reasons, including expressing oneself through an art form, or protesting against a corporation or ideology.

Warren Fu is an American music video director, illustrator and designer. He has directed videos for artists such as the Weeknd, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, The Strokes, the Killers, Hayley Williams, Mark Ronson and Julian Casablancas. Fu is signed to Partizan Entertainment worldwide for commercials and music videos, and Creative Artists Agency for feature films. He was also responsible for designing the concept art for General Grievous, one of the main antagonists in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rey Pila</span> Mexican rock band

Rey Pila is a Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City in 2010. The band consists of Diego Solórzano, Andrés Velasco, Rodrigo Blanco and Miguel Hernández, though it started as Solórzano's solo project. The name "Rey Pila" is Spanish for "King Battery", a phrase Diego saw in a painting by the late graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Kent (DC Comics)</span> Comic book superhero

Jon Kent is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, he first appeared in Convergence: Superman #2. Jon is the newest character in the DC Universe to assume the superhero persona of Superboy, and later Superman. As Superboy and Robin, Jon and Damian Wayne appeared in several Super Sons comic book series featuring their shared adventures. Jon later takes on the Superman mantle and stars in the comic series Superman: Son of Kal-El.

<i>A Panel of Experts</i> 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat

A Panel of Experts is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. The artwork in part is Basquiat's depiction of a catfight between two of his lovers, Suzanne Mallouk and singer Madonna.

References

  1. Shepherd, Rebecca (August 14, 2019). "This Guy Spent Five Years Researching The Origins Of The 'Universal S'". LADBible . Retrieved April 30, 2020.[ better source needed ]
  2. Mailer, Norman (2009). The Faith of Graffiti . It Books. ISBN   978-0-06-196170-0.[ page needed ]
  3. "Interview_Gribble1". 2019-08-20. Archived from the original on 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  4. Lindwasser, Anna. "Here's The Story Behind That Cool 'S' Thing You Used To Draw In Class". Ranker. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  5. "Local Investigates: The Mysterious S Symbol". NYU Local . February 12, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  6. Neelon, Caleb (November 23, 2010). "Solve the Mystery of the Pointy S". Print Magazine . Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  7. Hoffman, Fred (2017). The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. New York: Enrico Navarra Gallery. p. 211. ISBN   978-2-911596-53-7. The double 'S' markings on the center piece resemble other marks and gestures found in Basquiat's paintings from this time [...] While it became less and less a part of Basquiat's art production, there are continued references to graffiti style in his paintings and works on paper, such as the 'S' symbol.
  8. Morgans, Julian (July 23, 2016). "That 'S' Thing Everyone Drew in School, What Is It?". Vice . Retrieved March 21, 2019. No, this is not an original Stussy Logo [...] I personally get asked this a lot, but people have been drawing this S long before Stussy was established. People have just assumed it was Stussy and it's sort of spread from there. It's actually quite amusing.
  9. "Stussy - Jon Naar" (video). Stüssy. 8 March 2010 via Vimeo.
  10. "Stussy - Jon Naar". StussyVideo. May 26, 2011 via YouTube. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine
  11. Morgans, Julian (July 6, 2020). "Meet the Guy Who Just Trademarked 'The S Thing'". Vice.com. Vice. Retrieved July 26, 2023.