LEAVE IT BEHIND

How much time do we waste worrying? How much effort does it take to get  angry? How much more would we get out of life if we could leave our fears, hatred and guilt behind us? This poster asks these questions in as clear way as I’ve ever seen but I’d like to take a moment to explore the idea further…

I’m sure we’ve all had bad experiences with customer service: the bus driver was rude, the cashier wouldn’t except the item being returned, or the barista didn’t put enough foam in our coffee. How do we respond? I live in Seattle where locals are notorious for being passive aggressive and it’s shocking how much time & energy it takes to maintain that way of thinking. Have you looked at Yelp lately? Although it’s true that people do put good reviews on Yelp how many more people write bad ones? How many businesses were placed on Yelp by irate customers who wanted nothing more than an opportunity to complain? That takes work… wouldn’t the world be better served if people invested half as much energy in art, discovery and one-another as they do in spreading hatred?

My whole life I’ve heard the phrase “They’re not worth it.” or “Forget it, it’s not worth it.” Admittedly I’ve spent a lot of time arguing to the contrary but now that I have more interesting things to do than worry about what God or other people think of me… I understand. Politics, prejudice and the lust personal are cumbersome weights that hold us all back… maybe it’s time we cut the cord.

I NEED MORE MONEY FOR FOOD

This is a piece I was really proud of. I’m walking up The Ave one day & I see some guy (presumably some homeless guy) holding a sign that read simply “I need $ for food.” There was something about it, something about that dollar sign that made sense graphically. I had to make it a poster. But what kind? I wanted throw a twist into it; something to make people think… then it hit me: Why do some people need more $ for food?

We place a lot emphasise on getting the best. We put a lot of faith in brand-names and products. Is our trust ever really returned to us? How many things do we wear that were manufactured by underpaid workers in other countries? How many products do we buy that are truly worth the price?  The average number of food miles for edibles consumed in America can be anywhere between 1ooo-5ooo so when we buy food are we paying for its quality or its plane ticket?

But more importantly why are so many of us convinced that we should get more, make more, have more? If a homeless man can survive on $ does a businessman really need more $?

INTOLORANCE

This was inspired by a real-life event… I live in the U-district which is constantly full of inebriated students and it seems like they’re always looking for new ways to be drunk & stupid. One night I was walking home and I passed by a church. At one of the corners of the building there was a guy pissing on the church. The action struck me as being so unusual that it had to be intentional. If this guy wasn’t making a deliberate protest; then he at least thought it would be funny.

In my previous article I make a big deal how much I love Satan and Satanic Cinema. It’s true… I really do. But unlike most people (with similar interests) I don’t feel the need to insult or disrespect other peoples religions in order to distance myself from them. So what is this poster about?

Yes it’s a shocking image and at a glance most people assume I’m trying to profane Judeo-Christianity but look closely… I give the church a chance to respond by asking the question “Does he see the irony?” The guy pissing in this poster clearly takes issue with church policies. No matter what the denomination or even religion it seems like most churches practice some sort of intolerance: toward homosexuals, people of color, political choices, even & especially against other religious beliefs. But they can’t be all bad? Because a church is a collection individual members, each free to interpret or dismiss doctrine in their own way. To say that all Christians are intolerant would be akin to saying all Jews are cheap or that all Blacks love fried chicken. And that’s my point… Making a mass judgement on any group, race, or theology is just another form of intolerance.

I’m not saying the guy pissing on the church is wrong to protest, I’m not even questioning the validity of his method. I’m just asking if he see’s the irony. Do you?

HAIL SATAN

Here’s another completely fake, totally unreal poster. I’m not really in to contemporary film but I love old sci-fi & horror movies… and Satan! I used to hang out at the Grand Illusion Cinema in the U-district; every year around Halloween they run a series called “All Monsters Attack.” This poster was for a series I wanted to see called “Hail Satan.”

Unfortunately, even after I sent them the poster, they didn’t like the concept. Oh well… But since I’m blogging about posters I may as well share the idea with you! Again, the poster is fake but the films listed in it are real and here they are:

Night of the Demon starring Dana Andrews and Niall MacGinnis… An awesome movie with a great satanic cult leader.

The Brotherhood of Satan starring Struther Martin and L.Q. Jones… A psycho-thriller with a coven of Satanic witches.

The Devil Rides Out starring Christopher Lee and Charles Gray… Based on the book by occult aficionado Dennis Wheatley.

Race With the Devil starring Peter Fonda and Warren Oates… Guns, cars and Satan!

The Anti-Christ (L’antichristo) starring some Italian people… A cult classic made famous for its “goat licking” scene.

El Dea de la Bestia directed by Alex de la Iglesia… Action & Satanic comedy while preventing the birth of the Anti-Christ in Spain.

Satanis: The Devil’s Mass a documentary film starring the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, his friends & neighbors.

Speak of the Devil another documentary starring Anton LaVey, featuring the rarely seen Blanche Barton.

LABOR OF LOVE

Did I mention that I love making posters? Some people come home & watch TV or unwind with an X-Box and a beer… But for me making posters is more engaging, so I often design stuff just for fun. The gallery below is a series of fakes, designed for fake Seattle bands or non existent performers. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery and these were all designed to emulate the style of other artists… Specifically Swiss designer Panti-Christ, the American designer Jay Ryan and the American design firms Hatch Show Print & Patent Pending Industries.

I work a lot using collage but I recently gained access to scanner so I’ve been using the opportunity to digitize my own (original) artwork. All the drawings are mine and admittedly I’ll sometimes fudge a style to accommodate them but over all I think these do the trick and I’ve learned a lot by working in the style of masters.

THEY’RE ALL EXTINCT

You may have seen this around town… If you have an app for it on your phone; you took a picture of the QR code next to it and that led you here. Hopefully you’re interested in the work and want to see more. You can check out the gallery below to find more posters and you should be able to click on any of them to copy a larger, pint-quality version… Free. Why free? Because if you like them I want you to have them. No catch. This is not an ad campaign for a clothing company, I’m not trying to create a meme, I just want people enjoy the posters and be able to print them so they can share my work others. Hi, my name’s poster Poster Bot and I really love making posters.

Now that the introductions are taken care of… What say we talk about the poster little? A lot of people look at this and think “seven deadly sins.” But is ambition a sin? How about curiosity, creativity, or individuality? I hope not. So what does the poster mean? Aside from the fact the animals depicted are all aquatic; what else do they have in common? They’re all extinct. I don’t really believe that pride, originality or determination are instinct as well but I do want people to ask the question. I want people to ask themselves whether or not these attributes are on the wane. I don’t know about you… But I live in a society that seems to demand constant sacrifice and an ever-increasing amount of compromise. What are we gaining by making so many accommodations? If we surrender our pride to hold a job, get a degree, find a lover… to kill it?

The poster on top was done in color… I chose purple & green because I associate those colors (in this context) with death and funerals. I wanted the creatures to look like ghosts or zombies swimming in a dead sea. The poster directly above is in black & white… I’m fortunate enough to be able to print for free but not everyone has that luxury so all of the propaganda posters were designed both in color and in B&W to keep printing costs down. To make sure that each poster has the same impact; they were designed in B&W first, the colored version is always the 2nd.

Any way… directly below is the gallery I was talking about. I’ve been putting these posters all over Seattle and if even you don’t like them I hope they made you think. During the next few weeks I’ll be putting more up, adding more to this site and talking more about each poster. In the mean time… get used to it.

How do you print these posters? That’s a good question… and it amazes me how many different answers there seem to be. I’m a graphic design major and everyone at my school likes open files in Photoshop & print from that program; but I don’t have Photoshop, so here’s my method… using Windows I just right-click on the file (the icon or thumb-nail, it doesn’t matter) and select print. The posters in this gallery were ment to be printed on 11×17 inch paper but i think my measurements are a little off. So after you select print, then 11×17 paper, make sure the box that reads “fit image to paper size” is checked. No matter what the actual dimensions (I think I’m a few pixels off) the image will resize to fit the paper perfectly.