American Artifact

Deluxe Double DVD

Web: http://www.americanartifactmovie.com/

American Artifact chronicles the rise of American rock poster art since its birth in the 1960s. While it could be argued the medium took its inspiration from earlier posters for such diverse events as boxing and wrestling matches.

Director Merle Becker took a cross country journey to interview rock poster artists from the different eras to chart the development of the American Rock Poster. The film explores the history of the rock poster movement in America from its earliest forms in the Sixties, through Punk and Grunge to the development of the rock poster art scene today where it is treated as work of independent art.

The 1960s in San Francisco was a happening place. With the birth of the dance concert, a rock poster was created to advertise most shows and these quickly became visual treated. People began pulling them of the telephone poles, almost as quickly as they were put up, and promoters such as Bill Graham started to give them out at the end of his shows to advertise the next week's show. Marked by outrageous colours and psychedelic content, these posters have ended up being some of the most collectible of all.

As the Sixties died and traditional rock moved into the large stadium and some would argue, a too commercial vein, Punk rock became an amazing source for the rock poster. In most cases these were actually "flyers" done for bands on Xerox machines in local libraries, or at photocopy stores such as Kinkos. They were glued to buildings and phone poles surreptitiously at night by kids in the scene. In this pre-computer era, the flyers were not only an important form of communication but created by with scissors, glue, newspapers and whatever was at hand.

With the evolution of such sites as GigPosters.com and poster shows the rock poster has experienced a renaissance and become one of the more significant indie art forms of choice. Artists like EMEK, Tara McPherson, and Jay Ryan are creating beautiful works of art for a wide and diverse range of contemporary groups from the well-known to the obscure.

This is an extremely comprehensive film, interweaving intensive interviews with over thirty artists with images of an incredible range of works. It is well crafted offering an excellent balance of interviews, art and commentary to create a truly captivating documentary.

The DVD featured interviews with Stanley Mouse, Frank Kozik, Art Chantry, EMEK, COOP, Derek Hess, Mark Arminski, Tara McPherson, Justin Hampton, Victor Moscoso, Jermaine Rogers, Jay Ryan, Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn, Leia Bell, Jim Pollock, Randy Tuten, Jim Sherraden & Hatch Show Print, Scrojo, Winston Smith, Print Mafia, Paul Imagine, Kevin Bradley, Julie Belcher, Jeff Wood, Steve Walters, Mat Daly, Stainboy, David Singer, Dennis Loren, Mike Martin, Gary Grimshaw, and Chris Shaw.

If that is not enough, the second disc includes extensive deleted scenes and extras. These include extended interviews, How to Silkscreen, Artists Q & A and lots more.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No.2 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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