Film Review: American Artifact- The Rise of American Rock Poster Art, Directed by Merle Becker
November 13th, 2009 Filed under: Reviews - Film by admin
Film Review – American Artifact – The Rise of American Rock Poster Art
Directed by Merle Becker
FreakFilms Inc.
Since the first “Wanted” poster was nailed to a post in the Wild West, the eye catching, multi-colour silkscreen print has been a hallmark of American popular art, and it is on this rich tradition that the relatively recent craft of the Rock poster is built. This eye-popping and historically fascinating film documents the evolution of the poster, from early Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis ads that now look better than Warhol, to the “lysergically” altered perceptions of the San Francisco 60’s, to the black and white Kinko’s specials that mark the dawn of Punk Rock, to the retro-futuristic work inspired by 90’s Alternative and Indie Rock bands.
Witness the marvels of Wolfgang’s Vault – legendary concert promoter Bill Graham’s treasure trove of rare and vintage 60’s posters, and the meticulous care lavished over these priceless works of mindfuckery. From Rick Griffin’s famous “flying eyeball” image, beloved of hippie love children and sherm-addled suicide punks alike, to the deliberate warping of convention by Victor Moscoso, who managed to unwittingly achieve the desired results by turning the rules of poster making on their heads – using bright contrasting colours, and making the image as dense and seemingly illegible as possible. Detroit’s Gary Grimshaw relates his city’s trend towards highly detailed and exacting design to its great history of craftsmanship in all trades, and explains how for many the flyers are the only documentation of the socially evolutionary events they advertise, encapsulating the spirit of the early MC5 shows in a visual language of revolution.
Just as burnout 60’s artists had drooled their way halfway through the 70’s, the Punk Rock explosion came with bands like The Avengers, who made posters out of simple photocopier collage. Inspired by the Dadaist movement of the 1920’s, their take on revolution was to do something that anyone else could do, and thus inspire millions of others to start their own bands. Just as in the 60’s, these posters and flyers speak a cryptic visual language meant only for the initiated, and record a movement now lost to posers.
Texas legend Frank Kozick kicks off the modern era with his often gut-wrenchingly funny distortions of Pop Culture icons like Yogi Bear and Bettie Page, in a 90’s drenched in cynical self -destruction typified by bands such as Nirvana and the Stone Temple Pilots. In a world where cute teddy bears carry handguns and hot devil babes chop off limbs, the mind expanding realms of the 60’s give way to the current American nightmare.
The narrator’s occasionally lackadaisical tone aside, this film is a rich visual and historical experience worthy of repeated viewing. The blueprints laid by the artists of the 60’s are still paradigmatic today, and many of the styles have clearly influenced the development of Graffiti lettering styles. Now that most posters are made in Photoshop by 20 year olds, only to be torn down in days by Community Block Watches, and many events exist only on Facebook, such artifacts have become rare indeed, which may also mean that those who choose to step up to the challenge of maintaining and pushing forward the art of the Rock poster will shine through the shit that much more brilliantly.
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