BusinessWeek Illustration

As of late I've been doing some work for BusinessWeek. Here's a recent one about marketing towards Hispanic consumers.


-Barry
www.barrybruner.com

Screen Printed Show Posters, will the fame go to their little heads?

Since the late 1990's (remember when?) we've watched the return and rise of the screen printed show poster in a big way. By the mid-2000's (or mid-oughts) design outfits were popping up left and right who were able to make it by doing almost exclusively screen printed show posters. Show posters tend to be wildly unlimiting for the artist and designers creating them, so of course this produced tons of amazing examples of art from the last decade or so that also happen to be show posters. Its become a movement of sorts, spawning things like websites dedicated to only show posters, see Gigposters as well as their very own convention called Flatstock.

All this and outfits like Aesthetic Apparatus and the Bird Machine definitely played a role in exciting and inspiring us enough to kick off Team Eight in the first place.

Well these posters have come a long way and its not unlike witnessing one of your favorite bands finally make it big. I don't know who watches music videos anymore, compared to a live show or listening to an album, they can't help but seem a little cheesy, forced and awkward. Maybe we're all too busy enjoying the screen printed art instead. Either way the Thermals have a new video up, you can see it here: Thermals on Pitchfork. Its one of those bands-in-a-box videos, but plastering the walls are tons of amazing screen printed show posters! Talk about hitting the big time, they practically steal the show (the posters I mean). I can spot examples by tons of my favorite artists from the previously mentioned Aesthetic Apparatus to our good friend El Jefe (thanks for pointing this video out by way).

I guess we can expect to see posters going into rehab, shaving their heads, or trying to adopt babies soon. Or whatever it is you do when you're famous now a days.

Here's a probably illegal screen capture from the video. (don't kill us pitchfork):

Repressed IV: MAY DAY

An art exhibition on worker's rights


At Gallery5
200 W. Marshall ST
Richmond, VA 23220
804 644 0005
www.gallery5arts.org

Exhibition opens:
May 1st 7-11pm

Up through:
May 29th

My VCU Imaging II students will have screen printed and stenciled posters at the opening. A taste of their work can be found here

More info about the exhibition can be found here




There is also a May Day Parade in conjunction with the exhibition. Come recognize the past and present struggles of workers around the world.

Parade info:
Friday May 1st, 2009
Join us to recognize the past & present
struggles of workers all around the world.

Meet: 7:00PM Clay Abner Park
On the corner of Clay & Brook Rd. in Jackson Ward

March: 7:30PM On the First Friday Art Walk

More info about the parade can also be found here

Singles

A few weekends ago I got a call from Rebecca Sugar to see if I could help ink some scenes for her latest animation. Delighted to take a stab at this mammoth of a project I rushed over for a full day of work. I was really honored to be able to see so many different parts of the film in progress most of which I hadn't seen at all.







Rebecca has been putting an insane amount of work into this short and is currently putting the finishing touches on it. She should be finished with in the month so look out for some clips soon!

Show Posters - An update from Loose Limbs

Whew! Its been a busy first quarter of the year for Loose Limbs Press - Richmond's silk screened show poster factory.

Here's a few that Brandon and myself have cranked out in the last few months. Watch out cuz soon you'll wake up to see your favorite Team Eight artists being smuggled over to do some posters with Loose Limbs.

- Spencer Hansen

Due Process at Gallery 5

It was a busy weekend! Thanks everyone who came out Friday night to Gallery 5 and gave screen printing a try. And I do mean everyone. We brought over 300 sheets of paper for folks to print on and we ran out by the end of the night. We didn't even have any samples left over. So thanks and I hope you all learned a little bit about what a silk screen is.

For those of you who didn't make it out, here's a recap. Kevin Orlosky of Art on Wheels curated the show Due Process which opened last friday night at Gallery 5. He asked us create an original piece for the show as well as conduct a screen printing demonstration for the crowds that inevitably pour in on a First Friday on the Artwalk. Here's our print, "Cross-Corporate Synergetics" by Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, James Callahan, Rawn Gandy, and Kelly Alder, displayed alongside the transparencies, a few of the layers, and the actual squeegee and screen we used:



For the demonstration we thought we'd keep it simple. We took a character from each artists' section of the print and enlarged them and threw each on a screen. Passersby were invited to choose one of the five characters to lay down over the first silver layer that had already been swiped. It was a hit. People got real excited to pull that squeegee and then lift the screen and see the results right there on the paper. Pure magic! We're definitely planning to incorporate demonstrations like this wherever possible.

Our setup at Gallery 5:


Professor Rawn instructs an eager participant:


The eager participant registers his paper:


The Magic happens!


Here are the prints all those lucky participants printed themselves and took home to hang over their fireplaces:

artist Matt Deans:


artist Spencer Hansen:


artist Jim Callahan:


artist Kelly Alder:


artist Rawn Gandy:


Special thanks to Rawn Gandy and Barf Callahan for manning the tables and offering their expertise to all those inquisitive and adventurous minds.

Noah Scalin - Camino Real Show Poster

Noah designed this poster a little while back for a theatre up in NY. I love the classic color scheme, reminiscent of the WPA. He let me screen this one. 12.5 x 19, five colors, including the gold heart. Thanks Noah! Keep em coming! See more of his poster work at Another Limited Rebellion.

See us at the MacRock label Expo

Saturday April 4th.
Harrisonburg, VA
Noon - 5pm

We’ll be set up with our posters, shirts, and comics and our buddies at Loose Limbs Press. See us there and catch a ton of sweet bands Friday and Saturday.
For more info, or a list of bands playing, visit macrock.org!

Upcoming Show: Due Process at Gallery 5

Friday, April 3rd
First Friday Opening Reception

Due Process: An educational exhibit about the many processes of printmaking
Curated by: Kevin Orlosky
First Friday Opening Reception April 3rd 7-11pm
Gallery 5 RVA

Exhibit runs through April 28th

Printmaking is one of the most versatile forms of art making. It has been used by artists for thousands of years. It has had tremendous advancements over the years while the traditional techniques are still being used. Artists are usually drawn to its methodology, intimacy, and subtlety. One advantage to printmaking is that prints can be editioned so that multiples of the same image may be sold. Because of this, printmaking has been used in the reproduction market. Unfortunately outside of the fine art and collector world, a reproduction is what is generally thought of when someone mentions the word "print." This is mostly due to the size of the greedy art reproduction industry. "Due Process" aims to end this stigma that has hindered the reputation of fine art prints to the general public. Fine art prints are original artwork that has been produced by the artist's hand.
Due Process will showcase not only the end result of the artist's works, but will exhibit and explain the steps, tools and materials involved in each print process.

- Gallery5arts.org

We worked very hard on our submission for this show and it turned out pretty well. I didn't have time to photograph the final print properly, so here's the digital version. You'll have to come to the show to see it in person. It's a whopping 40in x 26in! Way too big. Never again! Come to the show this friday anyway and you can swipe you're own exclusive Team Eight Press print during our live print tutorial. Five designs to choose from, each one from a different artists involved in the following piece. I'll post how they turned out after the show.

So here's the skinny on this big-ass poster. Five of us contributed to the illustration, Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, Jim Callahan, Kelly Alder, Rawn Gandy, and some consultation by Russ Guatier. It should be self explanatory the chaos that ensued.

This poster is titled "Cross-Corporate Synergetics"


Details, clockwise:

Matt Deans:


Spencer Hansen:


Jim Callahan:


Kelly Alder:


And Rawn Gandy:


It was epic, so come out and see it in person.