Death or Glory

A few months ago when I was wandering ebay in search of interesting screenprints to possibly add to my collection, I stumbled upon this print. At the time it was something like $25, and seemed like a real solid image. Like most things in life, or eBay, I thought that it must be too good to be true. The price was nice and so was the image, there must be something wrong with it. It didn't even have the name of the artist listed in the description. For whatever reason, I didn't buy it. I should have though. I found another one on eBay for somewhere around $170!

As near as I can tell, the print is called "Death or Glory 09" by someone named Parry Doogan. Heard of him? Me either, but I dig his style! If this were just a really well printed monochrome image of The Clash's Joe Strummer, I probably wouldn't have given it a second glance, but this print is different! The thing that makes this image go beyond a standard ordinary screenprint, is his simple use of varnish that gives this image a whole new dimension. Compare the top image taken straight forward, with the one below taken from the side. Can you see the lyric? "Death or Glory/becomes just another story" Still don't see it? Try the image below in red. Oh yeah, it also comes in red.

Graphic Novel Style

I used to read comics a lot more than I do now. I started with only Ninja Turtles in elementary school, then mostly Superman in middle school, and by the time I was in high school I read mostly X-men related stuff. This isn't to say that I read these comics exclusively, I read a little bit of everything. Towards the end of my weekly comic book reading, I started getting into indie stuff, graphic novels, and less traditional superhero stuff(like Madman for example).

In college my car had died, and I was left with the decision to either keep buying comics, or get a new car/car payment. I chose the car. It wasn't a bad decision really because I don't miss comic books that much, and I still read the occasional graphic novel.

I really like the work of R. Crumb. Although sometimes I feel like it is hard to tell if he is being satirical or offensive, and some of his personal stories can make you blush with what they reveal, his style of drawing is beautifully done. I suggest checking out "The Softer side of R. Crumb".

Another Favorite of mine is Daniel Clowes. I remember loving "Ghost World", and going to get the comic(excuse me, "Graphic Novel"), and from there reading "Ice Haven", and "20th Century Eightball". Not only his drawing style, but his narrative style make me wish I had the talent to make the kind of stories, and characters that he creates.

The same goes for Adrian Tomine's work. His series "Optic Nerve" shares the same kind of subtle angst, and desperation that you find in Clowes' work, only with less silly characters.

All three of these artists have a unique way of dealing with the figure with amazing results. Crumb utilizes hatching more, while Tomine uses very minimalistic lines. Somewhere in the middle lies Clowes. The drawings above are my attempt at capturing portraits in a more graphic novel style.

It isn't always easy, or pretty because these works are done with an ink pen then covered with color pencils. I really like the work, and think that practicing this more "cartoon" style can only improve the way in which I see light, shadow, and also line work in a way that is not what I would traditionally do with my own drawing style using charcoal.

Print Collection 1

My Morning Jacket Plays the Tennessee Fire
Triangle Poster CO.
Pittsburgh, PA
Screenprint and/or Letterpress

When I was younger my friends and I would load up the car and head down to Bardstown Rd. where we would wander around and check out the stores, hang out and have a good time. During these days there were no social networking sites so if you expected someone to come see your show, you had to make real life flyers, and stick them to real life telephone poles. If I would see a really well designed flyer while walking around, I would sometimes take them from the poles.

This is where I got this print. I dare say it is the first print in my collection, even though I took less than great care with it. It has pin holes in it, and drawing on the back, but when this poster was printed I highly doubt it was created to be "high art" and the whole gig poster/printmaking fad hadn't yet arrived.

The band is one I had never heard of when I acquired the print, but recently had appeared on TV's American Dad, and I believe they also had a live concert on television for New Year's Eve 2008/2009. The popularity of the band as well as the trendiness of printmaking and gig posters makes me wonder how long a poster like this would have survived stuck to a pole these days. This same poster I took from the streets is actually for sale(or was at one time) at Ear X-tacy.

When I found this print I had no knowledge about printmaking. I didn't know who Andy Warhol was, I had never been to Hatch Show Print, and I had probably never even had any experience in my high school art classes, but this was a cool poster. The paper was thick, the colors were bright, but it had a certain hand made quality that normal posters did not. I could see the impressions in the lettering, I could see slight imperfections, and the ink seemed to sit on top of the paper more than normal posters.

Based on my printmaking knowledge I would say this poster is a combination of screenprinting and letterpress. The image at the bottom seems to be a generic screenprinted design that is available for everyone and the text at the top seems to be a letterpressed custom design. If you visit the Triangle poster company website they have pictures of pre-printed images that you ca use for your event, and this is one of them. This particular elephant image is "style #531" according to the bottom of the poster.

Jasper Johns By Shepard Fairey

When I look at this print I think a few things.

1. This print would make a great gift for that printmaker/collector in your life *cough ME cough*.
2. Is this the beginning of a series of artists portraits? I kind of hope so. It would be great to see Shepard's take on some of the classics, or even lesser known artists that everyone reads about in those Art History classes.

Hypothetically, which artist would you like to see? I am a huge Warhol, Haring, and Basquiat fan, and would like to see any of them reproduced in print. The only thing is that Warhol is such an obvious choice especially since Fairey is the modern day Warhol. I think that the clean, smoothed out images that Fairey has been producing lately seem to lend themselves more to artists who do photography.

Basquiat and Warhol's images were too rough around the edges, and Haring was too colorful and positive. Because of this I think that someone like Cindy Sherman would make a great subject for his printing techniques. When I think of Sherman, I think of dramatic poses, and lots of shadow play, both of which would translate well to print. The other artist, based purely on color scheme, would have to be Barbara Kruger. Her stark contrast of red, white, and black seem to fit Fairey's style perfectly.

The History of a Great American Poster Shop

I just finished reading "Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop", in preparation for my upcoming internship. It is a really great book for people who are interested in letterpress posters, or the history of Nashville. The book goes into a lot of detail about the times, places, employees, and even some technical details about the shop, and considering that the shop has been in operation for 130 years,that is a lot of ground to cover.

The story is a straight forward history detailing the founding of the company, and the basic types of posters printed. It's interesting to see how advertising with posters has changed so much in 130 years at Hatch even if technology has not. It seems when entertainment changes, posters are still there, whether it be minstrel shows, country music stars, wrestling, state fairs, or politics, Hatch Show Print has been there! For me, the best part of the book was being able to witness the decline of the business and the triumphant return of the shop to its glory days in its new location.
--(above) My first Hatch Show Print--

I feel like this end part of the book is where I come in. Around 3 years after the book was published I went on a road trip to Nashville with my brother and my cousins, to see the Curiosa Festival. When we arrived we were too poor to afford tickets and instead spent our time riding Go-Karts, playing mini golf, and going to the Opry Mills mall. We also went downtown to checkout the happenings. While walking past a building I looked in the window and saw a poster of the concert we were unable to attend. Inside I bought a copy of the poster I had seen on display in the store window. That store was Hatch Show Print.
--(above)Pieces from my Hatch Show Print collection, not including window cards, or t-shirts--

At this time I had yet to take a single printmaking class in college, but I knew that the distinctive Hatch Show design was something great. A few years later my mom went to Nashville on business. I asked her to ask the employees of Hatch if they were hiring. A few days later she returned with a couple of postcards, a print from Hatch, a t-shirt, and news that they were going to have internships available in the Fall of the next year. I checked out the website info and began looking into what I needed to do to get the internship. That summer we went down for the day and like always, stopped in to Hatch Show Print, where I bought a sticker, a t-shirt, and a print. As a joke I asked them to go ahead and put my name down on the list for interns the following fall. The person behind the counter told me I would have to apply online. For the next year there was nothing on my mind but to work on my BFA show/graduation, and think about the internship that (hopefully) awaited me afterward. I wondered what it would be like to work in the shop, printing the way people have been printing for hundreds of years! Getting to learn a new type of printmaking, getting hands on experience, meeting new people and being able to live on my own in a different city.

A few months later I graduated, and I sent off my resume for the Fall 2009 session of the internship at Hatch. I got a call back for an interview, and I thought that I did okay. They decided not the pick me for whatever reasons, but said I could still be considered for future sessions. I was excited by that, but I felt like I shouldn't get my hopes up. They didn't pick me before, so why would they pick me now? I thought I should focus on getting a real job, moving out on my own, and maybe thinking about grad schools.

Luckily, (in a way) I didn't have a new job, or a place of my own, or a grad school selected, because I received an email from Hatch Show Print a few weeks ago inviting me to participate in the February-April internship! I, of course, was bouncing off the walls with excitement and had to change my mission for my life once again. So that is pretty much it. This week I received my internship packet. Like one would expect, it includes letterpressed stationary with a personalized message, a card with a letterpressed history of the company, and a letterpressed price guide, as well as a bunch of photocopies relating to the behavior expected from interns.--(above) Letterpressed internship Packet--
As excited as I am that all of this is happening, I am also a little nervous. The people I have talked to at Hatch seem really cool and laid back, and the history of Hatch I have read seems to back that up. A community of musicians and designers with Luddite tendencies working together and listening to music (interns are not allowed to touch the CD player BTW) to preserve Hatch Show Print's legacy through production.

The intern manual is very rule heavy, and it needs to be, but reading it also brings in some self doubt. I can't let it get to me though, because everyone at my current place of employment tells me I am a machine! I work hard, and I take pride in my work, and Hatch Show Print will be no different. I can do this and it will be good for me. I feel that I will finally be able to work somewhere artistic, and be a part of something bigger. Hatch Show Print is a part of history, and when the next chapter of the Hatch Show Print story is written I will be a part of it.

More Cool Mail.

A while back I joined Twitter for the sole purpose of entering a contest hosted by World Famous Design Junkies. The prize for this contest?

STICKERS, GLORIOUS STICKERS!!!!!!!

More specifically, the stickers were part of another contest run by Sticker Robot. The Sticker Robot contest gives a topic, and asks for sticker slogans based on that theme. The winner gets 500 of their sticker printed, and Chris Burns of World Famous Design Junkies is a winner! His slogan "OBAMA ON A UNICORN LOOKING FORLORN" makes me wonder what the theme of the week was over at the ol' Sticker Robot, because I don't get it.

That really doesn't matter too much to me though, because if you know me, then you know I LOVE stickers and zines. If you don't know me, then maybe you should, we could play Super Mario Kart. But anyway, I entered the contest and I won!
The photo above is what the package that arrived in my mailbox today looked like. Just your average, run of the mill envelope right? WRONG!!!!!! Like I mentioned in my last post, I love getting mail that is artistic, and includes bonus stuff, and this package did not disappoint. BOOM! That plain looking envelope turned into this!
As you can see, the envelope was really a cardboard photo frame, with a picture of an unknown dude, from an unknown time. Weird, but very interesting, and a very unique use of an old photograph/photo frame. I should have expected nothing less from a design website. That's not all though! The package also had BONUS STICKERS!!!! Tons of little stickers from A Tiny City, (a blog related to the World Famous Design Junkies family) a few graffiti art styled stickers, and 16 Obama on A Unicorn Looking Forlorn stickers. Score!

Zine of the Month Club.

Recently thanks to printeresting.org I discovered something called the "Zine of the Month Club". For $75 you get a different zine every month from Mark Price/Space 1026 in Philadelphia, PA. Each issue is by a different artist or by a collection of artists, and usually features lots and lots of unusual doodles and drawings.

The Zine of the Month Club is why God invented mail. The picture below shows everything that came in the mail with my first zine of the month. It included all the previously released zines, as well as 3 show cards for an art auction/gallery opening at Space 1026, the envelope with the pizza character printed in red, a flier for the zine of the month club, a full color pizza character card with a hand written note from Mark Price, and all the zines up to that point.
Even though I wouldn't be able to make it to the show in Philly because it is over 8 hours away (I'm guessing), it is still cool to get bonus stuff in the mail, especially if it is really well designed. The envelope could have been plain white, and he didn't have to send a note saying thanks, but he did, and it's cool to know that he is not just phoning it in when it comes to this project.
A few weeks later I got the October issue. Same thing. The envelope was printed with the pizza figure, a new zine inside, and a cool little flier telling people to "READ ZINES NOT BLOGS". I think you should do both. Read zines, and this blog...and printeresting.org...and worldfamousdesignjunkies.com...but that is IT!

A couple of weeks (maybe not even that long!) later, I got a new envelope from the Zine of the Month club. This one was in a plain white envelope, with a photocopied zine called "Puke".
Because of its size, envelope, and photocopied nature, I don't think it is supposed to be one of the "official" zines of the month, and is more than likely just another form of "Thanks for subscribing" from the Club. If it is one of the official months titles, it is ok with me. What it lacks in fancy colors, and size, it makes up for in hilarity. This zine is probably one of the funniest yet. While I am talking about this zine in particular, it would make sense to go into greater detail about a few more as well.

Almost every issue is screenprinted, or a mix of screenprinting, photocopy, and interesting paper choices.

By interesting paper choices, for example, I mean that "Some kind of way" has velum paper for the 1st and last page that makes the image of a woman falling, turn into an organic pink blob when the page is turned. The cover to this one also blew me away, and made the screenprinting part of my brain wonder "how did you do that?" The drawings inside are kind of psychedelic, and have a really nice variation of line quality.

"Draw Jams Vol. 1" has a harder glossy cover with photographs of fat cats all over it, and the inside is filled with various artists' takes on Garfield, Batman, and other unusual characters.

"First Casualty of Pom Beach Week" is full of drawings of women and pomeranians. This is probably what a bad trip is like, and judging from some of the smoke-filled drawings, that may not be too far off.

"20xx" is a very elaborate, very high quality zine that makes my photocopied zines, and my screenprints, kind of look like crap. It actually has a zine within a zine!

"Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorn'd" is the only one that has a straight forward narrative to it, and it manages to flip that on its head through the unique way in which it must be read.

"People Friends" is a full of small drawings of people, and creatures, just chillin' and saying unusual phrases out of context. Very fun, and lots to see and read.

The rest of the zines follow along similar lines. Each issue that comes in the mail has its own unique identity, and its own way of interpreting art of the zine.

At www.zineofthemonthclub.com you can see the issues so far, subscribe to this year (or next year for the discounted price!), or click on each issue down the right hand side of the page to get a quick flip through of the issue. Even if you don't want to subscribe, it is worth it check out the site just to flip through all of these great zines.