{ 23 août 2005 }
the art of rock
last friday aiga atlanta and wausau paper presented a lecture by paul grushkin, 1 of the top rock & roll historians in the states. the lecture coincides with graphic noise, the current exhibition at the museum of design atlanta. i went the opening reception for the exhibition, and viewing all the posters was fabulous yet a little overwhelming for the eyes. after a while i become kind of desensitized to the wonderful imagery and great use of colour. there was certainly a lot of great work though; it made me want to design more posters.
grushkin has 2 books out: the art of rock: posters from presley to punk and the art of modern rock: the poster explosion. his lecture went from the very beginning of rock to modern day posters. during my sophomore year at uni i did a paper on the effect of drug culture on design in the 1960s, so i find that era of poster design especially fascinating, particularly the bill graham presents posters for the fillmore [examples: 1 2 3] and the family dog posters for the avalon ballroom [examples: 1 2 3]. 1 of my favourites is the pink, orange and green poster for the quicksilver messenger service. what can i say, i like simultaneous contrast.
during his lecture, grushkin mentioned flatstock, a poster show series that showcases the work of current concert poster artists. flatstock 1 happened in san francisco, but 2–6 have alternated between sxsw in austin and the bumbershoot arts festival in seattle. flatstock 7 is actually going on this weekend in seattle; i’d really like to go sometime.
posted at 18.41