The Art of Modern Rock

by Emi


Collecting silkscreened tour posters is one of my hobbies, it’s not quite as labor intensive or as time consuming as restoring beautiful furniture or sewing chic clothes and accessories like Natalie and Liz, but I'm a nerd about it. It all started in 8th grade when I got into Pearl Jam, my all time favorite band ever (this week I get the pleasure of seeing them 4 times! One night is on my birthday, best present!). Pearl jam commissions a unique tour poster for every show, they are all original designs, silkscreened, and are of a limited quantity. I got my first one 12 years ago for I believe $8. Over the years the price has gone up, but I think the quality has too. They now cost $30. The majority of Pearl Jam posters are designed by the awesome Ames Bros, a design duo based out of Seattle. On Tuesday I picked up a new one. It’s very cool.



The figure holding the guitar is Mike McCready, Pearl Jam’s lead guitarist. Definitely one of my new favorites. The colors and details every year get better and better.

On Saturday, I also got a new one this time featuring artist Justin Hampton. It’s very different from the other posters I have. Hampton has a unique style, kind of a more classic comic style. The poster itself is an homage to Norman Rockwell.

If you’re a fan of modern rock poster art then you probably already own The Art of Modern Rock, by Paul Grushkin and Dennis King. It is the bible of poster art. It’s an oversized coffee table book that features an encyclopedia’s worth of today’s prominent poster artists. The book is printed beautifully, and there are 1000s of posters in it. It’s one of those books you could look at every day and find something you never noticed before. I bought it off Amazon I think for around $50 and it is absolutely worth purchasing if you’re a fan like me.



Pearl Jam also has a poster book out called Pearl Jam Vs. Ames Bros. It’s a great companion book featuring all the posters over the years. It also features works by Brad Klausen who is a regular Pearl Jam poster artist.

There are a lot of poster artists that I am a fan of, and the poster art Mecca is Flatstock. Flatstock is an annual/bi annual convention of poster artists. It takes place at SXSW every year in Austin, and I believe at a traveling location as well. I went to SXSW in 2007, and completely geeked out at Flatstock. I came back with probably around ten posters from some of my favorite artists like Jay Ryan aka The Bird Machine, Diana Sudyka, Brian Ewing, etc… If you have a chance to check out Flatstock you have to. It has something for everyone’s tastes, and the artist themselves are there and selling limited printed posters, signed and numbered. The next one is at this year’s Pitchfork Festival in Chicago July 17-18th presented by the American Poster Institute. Check it out! You won’t be sorry.