Concert Posters as Supportable, Affordable Art
Via hensever
STUDY's been smitten for some time now with gig posters. Maybe it's a hold-over from those melancholy days spent in our rock-poster-plastered childhood bedrooms when all we could think about was how Dolores O'Riordan and Michael Stipe were the only people who really understood... but there's something comforting about these lovingly rendered prints that blur the line between hand-crafted and mass-produced.
The printmaking and rock poster revival really picked up speed in the previous decade, with an especially strong showing in Chicago where local artists continue to teach and work in printmaking shops like North Center's Screwball Academy. When STUDY staged a home for the Southeast Oak Park Housewalk last summer we were lucky enough to be paired up with homeowners that also own The Empty Bottle, one of Chicago's premier intimate live music venues. It's no shock then that they had amassed an impressive collection of rock posters and fine art prints. Here's a sample from the vaults:
Guest Bedroom from Southeast Oak Park Housewalk
via The Bird Machine
Dianogah West Coast Tour 1998
5 screens used
Edition of 270
Incidentally, Dianogah is the band of Chicago printmaking superstar Jay Ryan. Ryan's prints can sometimes be incredibly hard to get your hands on since they often sell out in minutes, but he's prolific enough to still have many for sale at his website, The Bird Machine.
The Decemberists
Rescue Rooms - Nottingham, UK - 11.14.05
12 x 24 inches
4 screens used
12 x 24 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 300
20 x 26 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 350
My Morning Jacket
Orpheum Theatre - Minneapolis - 10.02.08
20 x 26 inches,
6 screens used
Edition of 400
Future of the Left
Bottom Lounge - Chicago - 11.05.09
18 x 24 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 255
Another favorite printmaking operation is the Chicago based Delicious Design League. STUDY first came across the work of DDL in 2007 during the American Poster Institute's Flatstock exhibition. We've continued to follow their work online and at venues like the Renegade Craft Fair where we picked up their Fleet Foxes poster.
Fleet Foxes
First Avenue - Minneapolis - 08.09.09
18 x 24 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 167
Tallest Man On Earth
4 colors/screens
18 x 24 inches
Edition of 200
Jens Lekman
The Empty Bottle - Chicago - 12.31.09 - 01.02.10
4 screens used
18 x 24 inches
Edition of 94
Yourself & The Air
18 x 24 inches
3 screens used
Edition of 200
Like her sometime collaborator Jay Ryan, Diana Sudyka doesn't use repurposed images in whole or part for her posters. In her approach to printmaking Sudyka illustrates by hand everything that will become a finished screen.
Andrew Bird
Austin City Limits - 03.18.09
19 x 25 inches
5 screens used
Edition of 100
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Austin - 05.11.08
19 x 25 inches
5 screens used
Edition of 88
Camera Obscura
Metro - Chicago - 05.29.09
19 x 25 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 100
Kevin Tong brings a little bit of everything to his work with some posters that heavily bear the mark of an illustrator, and others that seem to be rendered by computer. Tong keeps exhaustive records of his poster projects and even demystifies some of the intricacies of printmaking through process photos and videos.
Jenny Lewis
Orpheum Theatre - Los Angeles - 10.30.08
18 x 24 inches
4 screens used
Sonic Youth
Fox Theater - Pomona - 01.08.10
18 x 24 inches
4 screens used
Edition of 140
Beck
Club Nokia - Los Angeles - 11.09.08 - 11.10.08
18 X 28 inches
4 screens used
Mogwai
Orpheum Theatre - Los Angeles - 05.16.09
14 x 24 inches
Edition of 100
New York based Hero Design Studio is another Flatstock find. While they use some hand illustration in their work, it's their photo- and typographic prints that STUDY thinks are the most stunning.
Queens of the Stone Age
Eulachhalle - Winterthur, Switzerland - 02.19.08
18 x 24 inches
2 screens used
Edition of 175
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Pageant - St. Louis - 04.25.08
16 x 20 inches
2 screens used
Edition of 100
Grizzly Bear
Pitchfork Music Festival - Chicago - 07.19.09
16 x 20 inches
Four colors used
Edition of 150
While some of the prints seen above may be sold out, none of them exceed the $40 mark, with most being in the $20 to $30 range. At that price we can all get our hands on some beautiful art, all the while supporting local artist and musicians.
