Poster Volley, vol. 2
A conversation between postermongers Michael Buchino and Julia McNamara.
Let’s bring this into the 21st century. Even though I know we are supposed to be starting a new convo, I couldn’t help but think of this poster after Rodchenko’s Kino Eye. Let’s shift continents and a time travel few decades! Go, mate!
Whoa — I don’t think I’ve ever seen that We Buy Your Kids one. Love them!
I have to go with Aesthetic Apparatus. Ibarra and Byzewski created a treasure trove of gig posters through the mid-aughts that got me salivating with each new print. They combined all sorts of vintage print iconography to create compelling images that I still comb through from time to time.
McNamara
Art Chantry. Seattle. 1995. I remember seeing this poster then; I was studying printmaking. It floored me (in a really good way). It’s burned into my mind.
This is probably one of the first gig posters that ever caught my eye — and I didn’t even know what a gig poster was in 1995!
Buchino
That’s the best. I saw Chantry speak my sophomore or junior year at university and he showed this. That was the moment I thought: “yep, I’m in the right place. Graphic design is a thing I want to do.” It’s perfect.
McNamara
I feel like I should say something smart and academic about Chantry. But really, what can you say about this? It just says it for you.
Buchino
Maybe “Fuck Art.”
McNamara
Naw. He scares the crap out of me.
Buchino Addendum: I’ve seen Chantry a few times and even organized and moderated a panel on which he spoke about the art process and gig poster business. According to him, he caught a lot of flack for this one from people offended by the objectification of women. Of course, this is an image of a man’s hips, so…that’s awkward. 😸
Buchino
Wasilewski combines images in a clever way that every poster speaks so clearly — they’re simple and seemingly obvious, and often unexpected at the same time.
Like Chantry, he often works with visual puns. They can be whimsical, but they’re not typically humorous. Plus: flames.
Buchino
So let’s look at some more Wasilewski. Polish film poster art is so freakin’ good. His Dirty Dancing poster is a fave — so much better than anything Hollywood could produce.
McNamara
Charley Harper, a guy we both love. The master of shape and color. Nobody puts Charley in a corner.
Also: remember when we discussed the symbolic significance of Baby’s watermelon scene in DD?
Buchino
Of course! She’s offering her childhood as a sacrifice to the dirty, dancing adults. I love that scene so much.
McNamara
More dancing…
Lukova is a master of visual metaphor. Her posters slay me. Here is a poster she did for Vale Tango. Tango por Ellos “explores relationships that are by turns suffocating, thrilling, and soothing, revealing the conflict and harmony when feminine and masculine energies mix.”
Buchino
I think I need to make a poster where the counter space is also significant. That device, expertly executed here, makes me swoon every time.
Buchino
Like Lukova’s Tango, you basically have a black and white image that takes advantage of negative space and a tiny bit of color.
It’s the best Oklahoma! poster ever. Janowski reduced the image to a plein-air, colorful, whimsical cowboy playing guitar. What’s funny to me is he followed up with some really angry cowboy film posters in 1966 and 1967.
⚡️💎⚡️
Poster Volley, vol. 1
Poster Volley, vol. 3
For more poster volleys, follow along via Instagram: @postermongers
