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The Art of the 80’s Boston Band and Event Poster

March 21, 2017 - Flashpoint Events
The Art of the 80’s Boston Band and Event Poster

 

This latest installment of Boston Flashpoint focuses on the poster art of bands and events of the 80’s. There is the Poster Gallery where you can view and enlarge 150 posters that range in diverse styles from collage to illustration. There is a fantastic narrative written by Larry Bangor of Human Sexual Response on how the posters affected the music scene while defining a new visual landscape across the city. There is also a tribute to artist Magnus Johnstone penned by Mark Flynn from the Punkt Data collective, providing a look at Magnus and his unique work that spanned many disciplines from large scale painting to the poster. Finally there are interactive video segments where you can ask questions of 14 musicians, artists, and designers about the work found in the gallery. Sending Special Thanks out to Dave Borges, Kathy Chapman, Mark Flynn and Family, Paul “Blowfish” Lovell, top notch NYC crew Celia & Juliette, and all the great CONTRIBUTORS that helped to make this installment possible.

Jan Crocker_Kinodv/Boston Flashpoint


 

Poster Gallery 


Physical Graffiti: XEROX-Mania in the Street, in the ‘Zines, in Our Heads by Larry Bangor 

promo3One of the chief glories of the punk/new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, arguably second only to the music, was the proliferation of a vibrant street art promoting the bands, as well as the venues where they played—“played” in both the musical and communal senses of the word.  Anyone visiting one of the cities where this music exploded—New York and London, most famously, but just as conspicuously San Francisco, Los Angeles, Athens, Cleveland, Minneapolis, D.C. and, in the case at hand, Boston—couldn’t help but be struck by the erratic splotches of colored paper, frequently indecipherable images, and scribbled or recklessly printed names and locations of upcoming and past gigs that decorated the streets.

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Magnus Johnstone Remembered by Mark Flynn

Magnus w photo creditMy close friend for 26 years, Magnus was one of the most prolific and under appreciated artists of his generation. Both Magnus and I were integral members of Punkt/ Data Gallery and Skunk Piss Mag where Magnus penned his art critique comic page “Less Than Zero” during the 2 1/2 years the magazine was published ( 1977 – 1980 ). The gallery and magazine were actively involved with the music scene, not only as fans but as producers of shows which included, among others: The Girls, Human Sexual Response, La Peste, DMZ… Promoting the gallery, the magazine, and the live shows meant designing and posting posters in Boston and Cambridge, and Magnus gave the same level of attention to his poster art as he did to his “art” art. As with myself, we both became DJ’s on WMBR and WZBC, and continued designing posters for many of the events both stations held over the years.

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Ask Artists and Musicians Questions About Boston Poster Design and Production and Watch Their Video Responses

Mark Andreason_square_blue_flip

 

Mark Andreasson
Artist/Musician
La Peste

WA_bio_2

Willie Alexander
Artist/Musician

 

CC

Clint Conley
Musician
Mission Of Burma

English_2

Marc English
Artist/Musician/Designer

Ralph Fatello_2

 

Ralph Fatello
Artist/Musician/Designer
Vinny Band

MF_3

 

Mark Flynn
Artist/Musicologist

Joanne with photo credit_2

 

Joanne Kaliontzis
Artist/Designer

Luncheonette Klavens

Sephannie Klavens
Artist/Photographer

Photo 277a

Dini Lamot
Artist/Musician
Human Sexual Response

photo 2

Andrew Neumann
Artist/Musician

RP_3

Richie Parsons
Musician
Unnatural Axe

Andy Pix

Andy “Rude Boy” Ressig
Designer/Mayhem Maker

Mark Thor

Marc Thormann
Artist/Musician
Marc Thor Band

bio composite

Wendy Wilson
Art Director/Designer

 

 

 

Have something you want to share about this blog post,,,Thoughts on poster design and production…A related memory or story? Record a video, become a Flashpoint Contributor.[vidrack align=”right”]

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