In collaboration with Durty Beanz
Glasgow
2024
Image Durty Beanz
Images Build Hollywood
The text is short and sweet, something between a tweet and a tongue twister. Durty Beanz have had a hand in writing it. I can tell. (It reminds me of their batshit Instagram captions, except with less swearing). The story opens with a description of an ELITE individual or group salivating onto a lens. It makes me think of the shouty male influencers I’ve seen on TikTok stuffing burgers into their faces whilst dribbling all over themselves and yelling about smashed patties. It also makes me think of, well, myself. I indulge in this kind of food sometimes. I feed on this kind of content occasionally. Am I one of this story’s ELITE? The narrative zooms out abruptly, pivoting to a description of the world around the character(s). Apparently, it’s burning. It isn’t clear if this is meant literally or metaphorically (or both). Either way, given how the sentence spins on the word WHILE, a connective (even causal?) relationship between the behaviour of this ELITE and the world that’s burning around them is heavily implied. Hmmm.
The central area of the frame is occupied by text, rendered in block white capitals. The font isn’t anything fancy (Impact Bold I’d guess). It’s stark and unapologetic, reminiscent of a Ministry health warning or a supermarket own brand product. The words appear stacked, their shadows connecting to create a pyramid of letters. Behind the text is a kaleidoscopic explosion of colours, shapes and movement. The design appears painterly, warm and seductive. Yet there’s a sense of peril in the swampy thickets, a sort of nightmarish urgency. This is unmistakably the work of Mark Titchner, however it also isn’t quite like anything I’ve seen from him before. It feels more fantastical.
Text Durty Beanz