Poster pop
Dave Jaffer
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Seripop's wild styles rock Montreal poster art
photo: Bobby Salinas
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All the art that's fit to print at Pop Montreal
The world of poster art is strange and beautiful, both familiar and foreign to most. In terms of art scenes, it's obscure, and obscured. Its history is varied, going well beyond the world of rock show posters and basic silk-screening, but since the culture is so fluid, inclusive and still relatively young, it's impossible to identify a "golden age" or argue that there is one. As someone obsessed with gig posters and the simple DIY beauty of screen-printed art, I'm happy Pop Montreal's afoot. Seeing as poster art bleeds into all of Pop Montreal's artistic side-projects - Puces Pop, Film Pop and Art Pop - this year's festival seems to share a similar interest in poster art and culture.
"Anybody can learn how to screen-print in an afternoon," says Chloe Lum, one half of the design team known citywide (and beyond) as Seripop. "We just started making silk-screen posters and taught ourselves the rudiments of design and layout while we were doing it."
"In our case I think it was a genuine interest in merging our two practices," says Lum's partner Yannick Desranleau, of Seripop's origins (Lum and Desranleau are half of local noise rockers AIDS Wolf). "Playing in a band, we had to do [it], to promote ourselves."
As niche as the scene is, or seems, Desranleau says it's getting bigger. "It's actually growing, the interest in vintage printmaking techniques, especially screen-printing," he continues. "We see it all over the place. People making zines and screen-prints in their kitchens."
Seripop's
art, as well as work by Jesse Purcell, Luc Paradis, and many more, will be available for perusal and purchase at Puces Pop (Oct. 4, 5 at St-Michel Church Hall, 105 St-Viateur W.)And for wannabe poster artists, a screen-printing workshop led by Logan Macdonald will introduce the basics of this art form/hobby that's a) experiencing a renaissance, b) easy to learn. (Oct. 4 at École Lambert Cross, 5490 St-Urbain.)
For cinephiles, Film Pop presents a screening of Died Young, Stayed Pretty (Oct. 3 at Cinéma du Parc.) A critically lauded look at underground poster culture, Eileen Yaghoobian's film (in which Lum is apparently "the only girl") offers insight into the underknown, oft-misunderstood world of wizards and weirdos behind poster art.
Art Pop, Puces Pop and Film Pop at Pop Montreal
Oct. 1-5, various locations
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"I was drawn to poster [art] for aesthetic reasons, as a visual artist." - Jack Dylan
Jack Dylan is an illustrator whose work you might not know you know. And, if you've honestly never seen his work, Pop Montreal offers a variety of avenues to do so, and perhaps even take some home.
Dylan assumed his pseudonym because it fit his then-oeuvre: pulp fiction. Today, his focus is superheroes, befitting his interest in comics. His ongoing series conflates the superhero idiom with the Mile End arts scene in inspired, interesting ways, this year incorporating classic iconography from paintings, films and photographs.
Dylan's work will be showcased and sold at Puces Pop, but Librarie Drawn & Quarterly, in association with Art Pop, is mounting an exhibit of Dylan's original prints from Oct. 4 to 31. Perhaps most exciting is a Damien Hirst-inspired silent auction of Dylan's work, to take place at the Record Sale and Gear Swap (Oct. 4, Sport Benfica, 100 Bernard W.).
