Art Meets Music at Flatstock 21
By Veronica Murtagh in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 17, 2009 5:20PM
Tonight kicks off the annual Pitchfork Music Fest and music is on everyone's mind. There is no better complement to good music than good art and as you spend the weekend checking out your favorite bands, set some time aside for Flatstock, located inside the Pitchfork grounds.
Flatstock, the traveling poster show series founded in 2002 and presented by the American Poster Institute, traverses the music festival circuit and features a rotating cast of uber-talented concert poster artists. Chicago's stop, Flatstock 21, features 44 exhibitors, including everyone's favorite local rock poster demi-god, Jay Ryan of The Bird Machine. Fans and collectors of poster art will have no shortage of eye candy at Flatstock, and are sure to find an aesthetic that suits their taste.
Local painter/printmaker Mat Daly approaches concert posters with the eye of a fine artist. Geometric compositions and themes of the natural world mark a body of work that seems more appropriate for a gallery wall than a festival booth. If Daly's fine art influenced posters pique your interest, you'll also want to peruse New Englander Daniel Danger's dark, intricate ink hatchings. Danger has received his fair share of well-deserved buzz this year and we're hoping to grab one of his eerie Sonic Youth prints.
Those with a liking for graphic novels and character-based illustration will become quick fans of LA artist Kevin Tong. Tong has a knack for visual storytelling, and his posters are wondrous, fleeting glimpses of moments frozen in time. A wide artistic range that runs the gamut from sketch-based to graphic design influenced keeps his work fresh and his fans loyal.
Graphic designers have established themselves in recent years as the new players in a field once dominated by traditional artists. Minneapolis design studio meets poster art collective Aesthetic Apparatus extend their bold, typographic hand into this year's Flatstock mix and round out a few of the many booths we plan to check out at the festival within a festival.
Flatstock 21 runs Friday, July 16 - Sunday, July 18 inside the Pitchfork festival grounds. A full list of participating artists can be found here.