Posters

AESTHETIC APPARATUS silk screened print show
The Local Gallery in downtown historic Hot Springs, Arkansas
Opening Reception
Friday, March 6th - gallery walk
5PM - 9PM

Images of rock and roll have been embedded in our minds, Jimi Hendrix on his knees summoning fire up from his guitar, The Clash "London Calling" album cover, or a bloody Sid Vicious. Afterall, image is a massive part of the music culture that has been responsible for legions of flannel clad grunge kids, hip-hop waistlines and even Ms. Hannah Montana. Bands design t-shirts, buttons, panties, hats, jackets, album covers and for the sake of this blog - posters. As a kid, I hung glossy Pink Floyd, Doors and Farah Fawcett posters in my bedroom. My college dorm room was an alter to The Cure, Bauhaus and U2. Even today, I proudly display posters in my home - mostly from my old band days and all of The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival hand-silk-screened-limited-edition-signed and numbered posters from some of today's most important rock poster designers like Jay Ryan, and Nate Duval. Silk screened rock posters came into popular culture in the 60's, where replaced by black light posters in the 70's and then came back into importance in the 90's and today. There are thousands of designers and silk screeners creating images for rock shows, festivals, books, pop-icons and so on. One of the best resources for diving into this sub-culture can be found at www.gigposters.com. Gig Posters has a massive and continuously growing library of rock posters to browse.

The VOV has been making it a tradition to ask one of these designers to design and print a limited run of VOV posters each year, and hang a small sampling of their other works during the festival. Low Key Arts has hosted beautiful art shows for Jay Ryan's hand drawn and silk screened poster including the child-like image of teddy bear eating a sandwich in the valley of the vapors. Nate Duvall's 2008 design gave props to the mobster past of Hot Springs with a cheshire cigar grinning Al Capone. This year The VOV has commissioned the Minneapolis collective AESTHETIC APPARATUS.
Aesthetic was started by Dan Ibarra & Michael Byzewski, who by combining their mutual interest in printmaking and music, began to build a groundwork of limited edition hand-printed concert posters that would gain them enough recognition nationally and internationally. Having designed and printed posters for some of todays rock icons like White Stripes, Bob Mould, The Go-Go's, The Decemberists, as well as, politicians and celebrities like Barack Obama.

The Local Gallery in downtown Hot Springs will host the unveiling of The VOV 2009 limited edition silk screened poster, which will be available for sale. The VOV 2009 poster is limited to 65 prints and is printed on heavyweight paper, signed and numbered by Michael Byzewski of Aesthetic Apparatus and stamped for authenticity. In addition, to The VOV 2009 poster, The Local Gallery walls will adorn other Aesthetic prints including; LUCERO, THE BREEDERS, AGAINST ME, THE DECEMBERISTS, SPOON and BOB MOULD to name a few.
All prints will be available for purchase although only a very limited supply will be available.

Hope to see you at The Gallery Walk!

AESTHETIC APPARATUS silk screened print show
The Local Gallery in downtown historic Hot Springs, Arkansas
Opening Reception
Friday, March 6th - gallery walk
5PM - 9PM