Movie Posters, Cool Artwork

By Cal Meacham

I have a small obsession with classic movie posters, new screen prints of old movies and cool concert prints.  What started as a fasincation with the classic one sheet turned into a love of hatch prints, obscure art and head on dive into the collector world of screen printing.

Access to a plethora of talented screen print artist has never been greater and creative licenses are being handed out left and right to artist looking to put a fresh spin on a classic.  Companies like Mondo are tying together different mediums to deliver unique cinematic offerings.  One of a kind screen prints are complimented in their line with reissues of old soundtracks and VHS tapes, complete with brand new artwork and liner notes.  It is a true cinema lovers bliss!

Finding that special artist or group that you connect with can be a daunting task so the following is a list of sites/artist/resources that I follow in hope that it inspires you to explore the ever expanding world of screen prints.

Mondo

Site – Link

About – Mondo creates limited edition screen printed posters for our favorite classic and contemporary films, in addition to vinyl movie soundtracks, VHS re-issues, and apparel. We also have a permanent gallery space in Austin, TX featuring a mix of original artwork and limited edition screen prints.

My thoughts – The amount of classic films that they cover is astounding and I haven’t even begun to dig into the vinyl.  Amazing artist such as Ken Taylor have done some amazing prints including 20,000 Leagues, Vania Zouravliov – 13 Assassins and Laurent Durieux – The Wolf Man.  I recommend following them on twitter as well as signing up for their newsletter because their stuff sells out fast and when its gone, its gone.

Jay Ryan – The Bird Machine

Site – Link

About – The bird machine, inc., is a screen print poster workshop, owned and run by Jay Ryan, which is located very close to Chicago.  Jay learned to screenprint beginning in 1995, working under Steve Walters at screwball press. Jay printed posters for his own band (dianogah), his friends’ bands, and the clubs they played at. Slowly, work from other clubs and other bands came in.

My Thoughts – I discovered Jay Ryan’s work when I was in college, as I was a fan of his band Dianogah.  His artwork for the Dianogah releases always caught my eye and when I purchased the Hannibal/Bear Explains 7″, I was hooked.  Simple, zany and all together unique, filled with animals and various obscure moments.  His prints sell for a fine penny on ebay so I recommend snatching up the ones you like at shows and monitoring his page for new releases.

Blogs & Sites To Follow

Comic Alliance (Best Art Ever Column) – Link   If you have a love of comic books and movies this is a great weekly column highlighting some great artist making very creative prints.

OMG Posters – Link  These guys are on top of all the new releases in the screen print/poster world.  They cover other things like toys so it is a fun site to browse through on a daily basis.