It was a sincere pleasure to work with Chris Shaw on this poster designed for Public Enemy at The Regency – and hella fun to go and see the show together – WORD! Here’s Chris:

“I was thrilled when Chuck Sperry asked me if I wanted to do a Pub­lic Enemy poster for his Gold­en­voice series, I’m a huge Pub­lic Enemy fan from way back when. Doing a poster for a band you love isn’t always as great as it sounds, some­times you can get hung up on try­ing to get a per­fect image and idea and over­work the art. Try­ing not to over-think things, I decided to go with an old-school polit­i­cal poster, the kind of thing I was mak­ing in the 80’s when I lis­tened to P.E. con­stantly. I’ve made a ton of art over the years lis­ten­ing to that band, and felt like going back to my roots.

Some­how I think I’ve wanted to make this poster for a long time. The last time I made a Pub­lic Enemy poster it was for the Fill­more, I don’t think a riot cop with a bloody baton would have passed pre-screening over there. In par­tic­u­lar, I decided to make this poster a BART cop. BART is a Bay Area tran­sit agency who’s police force has been involved in some very ques­tion­able shoot­ings, have been han­dling them­selves pretty badly, they’ve been in the news a lot. Know­ing the band, the image seemed fit­ting, and timely.

The image is a col­lage of pieces from dif­fer­ent riot cop pho­tos, put together to make an espe­cially sin­is­ter fig­ure. I altered a lot of the small details along the way then sep­a­rated the art into 3 col­ors, stan­dard “pol­i­tics” black & red, plus a bright sil­ver… the sil­ver gives it that rock poster feel. For the vari­ants, we printed a pure cyan instead of the black plate, and used some dif­fer­ent stock. A big thanks Chuck for being the mas­ter of his press, this was an espe­cially clean run of posters.”

Chris will have these posters and vari­ant edi­tions drop­ping at a ran­dom time on his web­site this Fri­day, August 26, 2011. Full poster details, loads of photos and documentation, at chrisshawstudio.com

Edwardian Ball 2011 at The Regency

Two-sheet Silkscreen Poster

20 x 58

Edition of 125

Each part is 3 colors on archival cream paper

Signed and Numbered (matched numbers top and bottom)

SOLD OUT – Thank You!

My custom designed Edwardian wallpaper used in this poster has some hidden secrets:

Edwardian Ball poster used officially for promotion on the street and officially available at the show

THE EDWARDIAN BALL is an elegant and whimsical celebration of art, music, theatre, fashion, technology, circus, and the beloved creations of the late, great author Edward Gorey. Set in Edwardian times, this multi-media festival has grown over the past decade from a small underground club night into an internationally recognized event, even earning the blessing of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.

Costumed and enthusiastic attendees, traveling from as far as Australia, Japan, and the UK, flock to this San Francisco tradition for a delightful blend of ballroom dancing, live music, riveting stage shows, DJs, fine art galleries, a vending marketplace, absinthe cocktails, steam machinery, parlour games, sideshows, and more. All ages are welcome and appropriate in this darkly humorous and elegant setting, where literary aficionados rub elbows with insect-like creatures parading on stilts where historically-accurate Edwardian recreationists waltz by a steam-powered tea garden where the only guiding rule is that you join in on the fun!

The Edwardian Ball has been called the quintessential must-not-miss event of the year, a defining annual San Francisco tradition, and literary circus of the highest caliber for good reason, come see for yourself!

Part flesh-eating zombie / part Glenn Beck portrait, my poster for Gwar at The Regency Ballroom is printed on Abrasive 150 Grit Sandpaper in an edition of 125. Perfect for rounding wood corners and for fixing uneven table legs.

I made two variants:

There is an edition of 12 on Very Fine 220 Grit Sandpaper – The best choice for sanding after priming, staining and sealing.

There is also an edition of 12 on Extra Fine 320 Grit Sandpaper – Ideal for sanding between coats of finish.

It seemed appropriate to make a poster for Gwar that would destroy all other posters. And given the abrasive personality of Glenn Beck only harsh sandpaper paper would do. I printed this by hand at Hangar 18, with extra care, applying four coats of ink on the bottom layer, three coats of ink on the second color, and two coats of ink on the last (sanding lightly between each layer – just kidding). One unintentional coolness that happened while printing this is that the clear blue final color picked up texture and luminosity from the emory and sand – and shines like a metallic ink. Even when I try to use regular colors they go metallic on me!

Gwar at The Regency Ballroom, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series Number 124

9 x 11

Edition of 125

3 colors on Abrasive 150 Grit Sandpaper

Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

Gwar at The Regency Ballroom, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series Number 124

9 x 11

Edition of 12

3 colors on Very Fine 220 Grit Sandpaper

Signed and Numbered

SOLD OUT

Gwar at The Regency Ballroom, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series Number 124

9 x 11

Edition of 12

3 colors on Extra Fine 320 Grit Sandpaper

Signed and Numbered

SOLD OUT

Public Image Limited. I’m speechless. John Lydon loved the poster and signed one for me – “To Chuck – John Rotten was here!!” They ripped!

I’ll be framing that one for my wall.

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Here’s a look at the finished printed one (click to see bigger):

Public Image Limited

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 98

Edition of 150

5 colors on archival cream paper

15.5 x 30.25

Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

Here’s my poster for the Edwardian Ball which will be celebrated at the Regency Ballroom on January 22 & 23, 2010.

I went for a retro Edwardian era style (1900-1910) with an influence from Gustav Klimt. Since I’m using a lot of metallic inks, I resonate with Klimt’s use of “bling” in his art.

I’ll be releasing this poster here on my site on Sunday.

Here’s some pictures of the actual print. You can see the paper is textured like watercolor paper.

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From the Edwardian Ball site:

“The award-winning Edwardian Ball transforms the historic Regency Ballroom into a garden of delights, Friday and Saturday January 22nd and 23rd, 2010. Join a magical outdoors-indoor symphony of music, theatre, dance, art, storytelling, circus arts, fashion, technology, and, of course, the art & stories of Edward Gorey.”

Edwardian Ball at The Regency

Friday & Saturday, January 22 & 23, 2010

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 90

Edition of 200

5 colors on archival cream paper

15″ x 35″

Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!