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February 6, 2008: Opening Day
11:00am - 7:30pm
Opening Reception 5:00 - 7:00pm
Art/Sociology Building Atrium, University of Maryland
Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 3:00pm
Gallery Talk/Lecture
The Art of the Contemporary Rock Poster
John Foster, Participating Artist and Vice President of Fuszion Collaborative
The Art Gallery, 2202 Art-Sociology Building, University of Maryland
John Foster will present a gallery talk/lecture on the history of rock posters, discussing several works in the exhibition, past and contemporary styles, and sources of inspiration. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Art Gallery will be closed the week of March 17-22, in observance of the University of Maryland spring break closing.
The Art Gallery is excited to present an exhibition that showcases the cutting edge experimentation taking place in silk-screened rock posters right now. Sweet: The Graphic Beauty of the Contemporary Rock Poster features twenty-eight of the leading artists/groups of silk-screened contemporary rock posters, on view Wednesday, February 6 through Saturday, March 29, 2008. Artist Jesse LeDoux creates a site-specific installation, Masters of Balance, in the back gallery that displays the versatility of the screen printing technique, and artist Tim Gough creates unique signage for the exhibition utilizing silk-screening and other media applied directly to the walls.
Born from the lithographic posters of turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau advertisements, as well as from travel advertisements from the pre-World War II era, the rock poster originally gained status as a viable expression of art during the psychedelic period of rock from the mid to late 1960s. While other artists mimicked the form, the poster movement of that time remained centered in the bay area of California. After a lull in the production of hand-printed silk-screened rock posters, brought on by the availability of cheap photocopying technology in the late 1970s/early 1980s and the mass produced media of the new MTV age, contemporary artists are once again utilizing the "hands-on" techniques of producing silk-screened posters to promote the music they love. While this new wave of poster production began in the rockabilly and indie music scenes, it has spread equally, nationally and internationally, across music genres as well. Sweet will identify and exhibit those artists that are leading this new resurgence.
The exhibition is curated by University of Maryland Department of Art printmaking professor, Justin Strom, and by The Art Gallery’s Exhibition Designer, John Shipman, and is part of an ongoing commitment to work with regional artists in presenting exhibitions that address current trends in contemporary art and design. The Art Gallery’s exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
The Art Gallery is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. The exhibition is also being sponsored in part by Tiny Showcase, which will be releasing a new print from seven of the artists, including LeDoux, on the seven days leading up to the opening of the exhibition, and donating a portion of the sales to The Art Gallery. Other sponsors include the American Poster Institute, Guy T. Kuhn Fine Art Paper, Renaissance Graphic Arts, Amazing Magnets, Backyard Inflatables, and an anonymous donor.
