Kara’s Latest Creation: a Poster for Ernest Hilbert’s Reading with Mark Schorr at the Pierre Menard Gallery
by Ernie on 10/11/09 at 11:48 am
Kara’s done it again! She’s made a lovely poster, limited to 12 copies signed by authors and promoters, for Ernest Hilbert’s reading at the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA. Check it out!
“I WOULDN’T WORRY ABOUT IT . . . IT’S NOT A BIG COLLEGE TOWN”
LIMITED EDITION SIGNED POSTER ADVERTISING
ERNEST HILBERT AND MARK SCHORR’S READING
AT PIERRE MENARD GALLERY, NOVEMBER 2009
MALLON, Kara. “BOSTON POETRY UNION READING.” Poster Signed. Philadelphia: Nemean Lion Press, March 2009. Measures 11 by 14 inches.
Limited edition poster for the November 12th, 2009 Boston Poetry Union reading at Pierre Menard Gallery to celebrate the release of the second issue of 66: A Journal of the Sonnet, featuring poets Ernest Hilbert and Mark Shorr, one 12 numbered copies, signed by the designer, both authors, and promoters (and two proof copies, hors série) and featuring the official Nemean Lion chop stamp on reverse.
Posters of various kinds have existed for hundreds of years, but the modern poster dates roughly to 1870, when color lithography made mass production possible. “In little more than a hundred years,” writes poster expert John Barnicoat, “it has come to be recognized as a vital art form, attracting artists at every level, from painters like Toulouse-Lautrec and [Alphonse] Mucha to theatrical and commercial designers.” Concert posters have ranged in styles from Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Cubism, and Art Deco to the more formal Bauhaus and the often garish hippie posters of the 1960s. Posters advertising poetry readings have become popular collectors’ items on the rare book market, the most famous among them being the “Six Poets at Six Gallery,” a poster for an evening organized by Kenneth Rexroth for poets Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Phil Whalen, Kenneth Rexroth, and Jack Kerouac—“[a] remarkable collection of angels on one stage”—on October 7, 1955 in San Francisco, though it should be noted that the poster is memorable more for the event it advertised than its impromptu design.
With the advent of digital production and printing technology, a new generation of poster artists has begun to expand the field of the concert poster while building upon earlier traditions. Cutting-edge designer Kara Mallon’s poster is part of the recent wave of minimalist, sans-serif designs that follow in the wake of the popular documentary Helvetica (2007). Helvetica, among the most common of sans-serif typefaces, was developed in 1957 by Swiss designer Max Miedinger. Advertising columnist Leslie Savan has remarked that “Helvetica has almost . . . a perfect balance of push and pull in its letters.” She also made use of the Ariel font for the PO/ET/RY column design. The headline quote is taken from the rockumentary Spinal Tap and refers to the band manager’s cagey response to the news that the Boston concert has been canceled due to lack of interest. A fine copy, signed. Most desirable and increasingly difficult to obtain.
