Spoon

Farley just made this awesome poster for Spoon's 3rd Austin City Limits taping. They are pretty much sold out, but if you see us at future poster shows we may have a few extra.

Reign in Blood

Here is Mark's solution to the other half of the Poison Idea poster run. Its for sale here.

Flatstock 25

If you're in San Francisco this weekend, come by and say hi at Flatstock 25.

Trail of Dead

Mark made this poster for the site launch of puregrease.com, an Austin company that designs web and merch for bands. 4-colors, 16x22" on 80lb French Recycled White.

Poison Idea

Mark made this poster for one of the nights of Chaos in Tejas here in Austin.

In Progress.


Stencil ready to print.

All four screens printed. Transparent black ink in the shadow layer makes different colors out of the red, green and white of the paper.

50 posters for the show were made. Another 45 were printed without the text. Mark wants to put some gory text in there and is open to suggestions. The final print will be posted soon.

Flatstock Book!

Mark has some work in this book. Buy one!
Rock Paper Show documents the first decade of the twenty-first century as the high-water mark in the storied intersection of graphic design and music. Against the backdrop of the digital-music revolution, the rock poster reemerged during this period as the calling card of impossibly talented new artists and design studios brought up on Black Flag, Joy Division, the Flaming Lips, and the Melvins. Simultaneously, the posters that these studios produced were celebrated by a rapidly growing nation of indie-rock fans who all woke up one day craving beautiful new music-related objects in their lives. The excitement - matched equally in the design and music worlds - was captured by and celebrated via the birth and rapid rise of Flatstock, the American Poster Institute's ongoing rock-poster exhibition.

Since its inception in 2002, Flatstock has evolved into the definitive showcase of the most talented poster artists working today. Rock Paper Show: Flatstock Volume 1 is an editorial and visual history of the first 20 Flatstocks, with contributions from the artists and studios that regularly attend the events and the bands who are often the subjects of the posters, as well as critics and collectors involved in this community. Rock Paper Show collects for the first time the original posters created for each Flatstock by the attending studios. Veteran poster-makers take the reader on behind-the-scenes looks at the studios, the artists, the regional scenes, and the personalities of this vibrant and varied community.

Curated by Geoff Peveto (president, American Poster Institute)
Book design by Rumors

Over 60 editorial contributors, including:
Aesthetic Apparatus, Craig Finn (the Hold Steady), John Foster (author, Masters of Poster Design), Clay Hayes (gigposters.com), Jeff Kleinsmith (Patent Pending), Jay Ryan (the Bird Machine), and Paula Scher (Pentagram).

The deluxe edition of the book features 20 original posters, commissioned to celebrate Rock Paper Show's release.

312 pages. 566 color images.

Oh Yeah....

By the way, as you can see Farley and I have joined forces to form Empire Press. Since we were sharing booths at conventions and well... we're married, we figured we'd "incorporate" at least in name. Its tidier, do you agree?

We've been upgrading our modest garage shop, and we've procured a lovely American Tempo semi-automatic screenprinting press!

New Yann Tiersen poster from Farley

Farley is totally outpacing me in the "getting shit done" department. Check out her new poster for avant-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen. We are big fans of his recordings and she was psyched to make something for this show.

Renegade Craft Fair!

Farley and I will be at the very first Austin Renegade Craft fair! Come by and say hello.

2010 Calendars!

I am welcoming 2010 with my yearly calendar. They are currently for sale at gigposters.com. The year of the tiger promises to be a good one, and my resolution for you readers is to make more use of this blog, so stay tuned!

Ahh, September in Seattle

It is always a relief from the Texas summer, and this one has been brutal! I'll be joining other poster arteests once again for Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival at the lovely Seattle Center on Labor Day weekend. So, if you happen to be at the fest, stop by the Fisher Pavillion and visit my booth. Here's a little something new I'll have for sale there:

Okkervil River Poster

I'm organizing a poster series for the 35th season of Austin City Limits, and I chose the recent Okkervil River taping for myself. It was great show and a big thrill to make art for my old friends.

As seen in Spin

The latest issue of Spin Magazine has a review of the new Gigposters book, and they chose one of my Magnolia Electric Company posters as a sample. Too bad they had to crop the sides to make it fit their layout. The photo is one I took of the actual magazine, since I couldn't find it on their site. They have a quote from Jason Molina:

"These special pieces can set a real tone for the show... I remember seeing this poster the moment we got out of the van and we grabbed one right away" 

New poster

I am back in the saddle with this poster for Bonnie Prince Billy. It was a challenge to get a good photograph of this because the values of the ink ended up being very subtle, and the texture within the figure is delicate. Got some ideas for my next poster, my former workers in song Okkervil River are doing an Austin City Limits taping! Check out my post on gigposters.com about the poster series I'm coordinating for ACL's 35th season.

FLATSTOCK 20!

It's that time again, time for all of gawd's children, young and old, rich and poor, hip and not-so-hip, to congregate amongst the hallowed makeshift cardboard halls that is Flatstock. If I'm not mistaken, this is Flatstock's 6th year at SXSW, and I've been present at every one of them. Join me and dozens of other poster alchemists (such as Pete Cardoso above) for FOUR days of sensory overload as we proudly display our colorful oeuvres in a maze of paper and personality. More importantly, BUY some stuff so we as a people can continue to practice our screenprinted swan song until Gabe's horn drowneth us out. Bring cash.

Flatstock Poster Convention
Austin Convention Center - Austin, TX
March 19-22
11:00am to 6:00pm
FREE ADMISSION!

C.W. Roelle

CW Roelle is a friend of mine from Providence, RI who works in wire. His amazingly intricate pieces are made from one continuous piece of black wire and show so much character, depth and fluidity that you'd think they were formed by nature itself.

Oh Joy!

I've become a huge fan of Will Oldham over the years. His Bonnie Prince Billy albums constantly revealing new elements of his song-writing prowess, and always giving me aural pleasure. His new album "Beware" is scheduled to be released on 3/17, and based on my fondness for "Lie Down in the Light", I am giddy with anticipation. There's a video of one of the new tracks called "I am Goodbye" on the Drag City web site. BTW - I'll be doing a poster for Will Oldham's Austin appearance in June!

Fatherhood

So, I wish I could say that I've been busy making new art for 2009, but so far that has not been the case. Instead, I have been happily caring for my baby girl, whom my wife and I adopted in December. Her name is Neko and although she is a handful, she has already inspired creativity in me which hopefully I will have time to execute soon. On top of my fatherly duties, my print shop is full of furniture while we put new floors in 2/3 of our house. Excuses, excuses, I know. Soon I will be back in action making new things. In the meantime, buy one of my calendars at etsy. Baby needs more diapers!

Gig Posters Volume I: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century

I'm excited about the new book from the creator of gigposters.com, Clay Hayes, called "Gig Posters Volume I: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century". Although its not scheduled to ship until April, he's got a fancy preorder on his site that gets you extra goodies. Why should you buy it? Because I'm in it!!

Magnolia Electric Company

I missed Tre Orsi but I did catch several of Will Johnson's songs. He is one of my favorite solo dudes, but I do love me some Centromatic as well. Magnolia put on a great show as always. The last song was just after midnight and Jason Molina wore a mask in honor of Halloween and the band busted into Hank Williams' "Move it on Over."