A look at punk posters.Really an art form that can be seen as aesthetic content in a form of co-existence with politics. It goes back and contributes to the dialog that began with impressionism; namely an entente where art is not just politics or stripped down form. Instead, it embodies both aesthetic content and non-aesthetic content….
by Art Chantry ( art@artchantry.com)
ANOTHER seattle ‘hometown hero’ was penelope houston of the avengers. she ignored her classical voice training and ran away with tomata du plenty to san francisco where she immediately formed a punk band. the eventually ended up opening for the sex pistols at their infamous final show.
Above is the first poster franko did for the bird, seattle’s first punk club. the opening night featured his pals, the enemy, the (later) ing=famous mentors (another hometown hero seattle band) and the telepaths, who later morphed into the blackouts and then into the successful band ‘ministry’ (today, bill rieflin, the drummer from the telepaths, is REM’s regular touring drummer).
interestingly, the girl on the far left – suzy grant, in later life became musical director of the highly respected seattle children’s theater.
note franko’s use of rubber stamp slapped on the face of the guy in the middle.
this is final show for the bird (and franko’s very last punk poster.) today, this venue space, the club’s last location, is now a hip fern bar and restaurant. tres chic!
I have a copy of the first poster—I was a member of Missing Persons. I had no idea it was “art”—I’ll have to take better care of it.