SUB POP RADIO
Grunge was a global phenomenon that kicked open the door for alternative sounds and cultures into the mainstream. At the same time, its gigantic riffs and macho posturing often reinforced traditional notions of rock’n’roll as a big boy’s club. In Sub Pop Radio, Johnny Romeo pays homage to the rebellious power of Kurt Cobain, who frequently challenged gender norms through fashion and helped subvert expressions of masculinity in Pop culture. Referencing Jesse Frohman’s classic photo series, the painting portrays the legendary Nirvana frontman decked out in is signature oval shades and fur hat, a vision of thrift store chic cooly taking a drag from his cigarette. Stitched on to Cobain’s hat is the word ‘Bobcats’, a cheeky nod to the Bobcats cheerleader outfit the grunge lead-singer once donned for Rolling Stone. Blurring gender lines and defying rock music’s traditional machismo, Romeo’s portrait of Nirvana’s grunge guru emphasises Cobain’s legacy as both icon and iconoclast. Symbolically, the bobcat embodies the innate qualities that make someone a true slaymaker – a solitary creature who thrives in stillness, possesses a quiet confidence and trusts their own instincts. Weaving the cat motif throughout his latest series, Romeo positions the bobcat as part of a larger mythology of empowered felines. Kurt Cobain’s untimely death at 27 has long been shrouded in tragic nihilism, a dark legacy that casts a haunting shadow over his place in music history as a revered member of the infamous 27 Club. However, in transitioning from ‘In Gloom’ to ‘In Boom’ (a reference to Nirvana’s 1991 grunge anthem ‘In Bloom’), Romeo’s Kurt becomes a beacon of radiant Poptimism, broadcasting his message of rapid growth and radical self-discovery through his Sub Pop Radio station. Echoing the thunderous grunge sound championed by Seattle’s iconic Sub Pop label in the early 1990s, the word assemblage ‘In Boom’ becomes a bold declaration for embracing what fuels your growth, inviting us to turn up the volume for all the world to hear.
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