This week I had the pleasure of talking with Sean and Tim from Dog and Pony Showprints. These guys are fantastic! They share some of my influences and inspirations, and it was truly a pleasure to have a chance to talk to them!
Against Me!
How did you both get involved in art in general, and silkscreen/screen printing specifically?
Sean: Gosh, I have no idea how doing art fell into my lap. Neither of my parents were artistically inclined, so it didn’t necessarily come naturally. But I really dug art class in elementary school. You know, just making stuff for my mom and all that. Plus I’m a lefty, all my art instructors led me to believe that had something to do with it too…the whole left-handed-right-brained thing. I took more elective arts classes in high school, which led me to find out that I could draw pictures AND make money. Enter graphic design. Had some awesome mentors at UNF who led me to understand design on a conceptual AND technical level (instead of just pretty pictures), and now I (along with Tim) do advertising at a big agency downtown.
The need to understand silkscreening came from my admiration of the Minneapolis-based studio Aesthetic Apparatus. They in my mind are the pioneers of what I consider to be modern rock poster design. Sure there are Kozik and Coop and Emek, but AA made me realize something something special — I didn’t have to be an amazing illustrator to make a great rock poster. Their collages and beautifully put-together posters struck me at a time when I was just figuring out what I wanted to do with my career. I got my hands on some of their posters and my fate was sealed.
The tactility of a screen printed poster is something you can’t simulate with offset or digital printing. Feeling ink on a nice toothy paper is beyond awesome for me. So one of my mentors at UNF taught me how she learned and I went from there. Picking up other tips, losing some…finding what worked for me.
Tim: Is there such a thing as nerd art? I drew my own coimcs and comic books as a kid, though none of them were any good. I’ve been obsessed with logos and album art since my early teens. I took about 8 years off of recognizing art and design (I call this my dark period) because I thought, to make a living I needed to sweat my ass off for 40 hours a week. I had a renaissance in my mid 20’s basically acquiring a whole new passion for design, which led me to school, which led to more art exposure which, in the long run, brought me to where I am today. The screen printing process is still a new experience for me. I was aware of artists and designers that created some bad ass concert posters, but had always thought that area of art was sort of restricted for me – having no clue as to the process – I more or less had resigned myself to being a admiring observer. Then one day Sean was hired at the same agency I work for and instantly became a big contributor to my education and motivation into creating the work you see today.
Describe your work. What are your influences, how do you get your inspiration? What made you decide to do band posters? The idea of creating posters for bands you enjoy, and then trying to sell them at shows is genius!
Sean: Describe our work. Hmmm. “Hand-Printed Posters and Goods.” I think we answered the second part of this one above. Aesthetic Apparatus is a huge influence. They introduced us to the idea of selling these awesome things we made for bands we love. The bands usually dig it too! It’s great for us, the band, the venue, the city, screenprinting…everything! We love music, we love art, and we love screenprinting. Gigposters.com is a great source of inspiration. Nearly every relevant printer/designer uploads their posters to the site for the public to feast on. Keeping current with those that are better than us really drives us to make work and to make it good.
Music is obviously a pretty significant influence as well. Our lives are inundated with music. We work with headphones on, we drive with music blasting. It surrounds our lives, becomes the subject matter of our posters, and inspires us daily.
Tim: My contribution to our work can pretty much be summed up like this. We get an idea for an upcoming show, we talk, brainstorm, concept and research. Then I sit around for a few weeks and make Sean mad because procrastination is my middle name. Then when we get close to our self imposed deadline, magically we make something amazing, or great, or good, or pretty ok, or quite mediocre and then print it. Beer helps the process, but not often enough. Anyway, the work we do quite simply, always impresses me (in a positive way). Sometimes its the finished product, sometimes its the journey to the finished product – but every poster has a story and I guess thats how I see our work. We create pieces of art that is unique not only in imagery but in history. I sometimes wonder if any body cares about that stuff.
Declare War on Minnesota
Band posters were a natural progression. We work in a field that we love, design, but we don’t always love our work (at the job) so for a creative outlet that we actually enjoy we merge two of our passions together – music and design.
Connected to your influences and inspiration, who are your favorite artists and musicians?
Tim:
Robert Lee and Mark McDevitt of Methane Studios were my original inspiration and still are the strongest. The dudes from Aesthetic Apparatus run a close 2nd. Thomas Scott hangs on my walls at home and in the office. Sagmeister is mandatory, and I’d include Chwast (for history) and Fairey (for current) as icons of poster design. Music inspriation is all over the place so I’ll do a quick 10 kinda all time/current faves. Against Me, the Allman Brothers, Queens of the Stone Age, Less than Jake, Iron and wine, MMJ, Mason Jennings, Bad Religion, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jay-Z. Is that 10? Currenty El Ten Eleven is in heavy rotation.
Sean:
Ryan McGinness blows my mind, WPA poster artists remind me that I’ve got a long way to go, Stefan Sagmeister takes it to another level, Rosa Loves inspires constantly. Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins are crucial. Delta Spirit’s “Ode To Sunshine” & live show are brilliant. Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon and Elvis Costello slay me at the moment — I’m late on the MGMT train. Can’t deny the importance of Green Day in my development, too. The Who, Deep Purple, Talking Heads, Springsteen = timeless.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? your art? How do you see it evolving?
Sean: Ballin’ — Hopefully the art will get better.
Tim: Old and wrinkly with 2 kids and a dog and a leak in the roof. My art will just be old and wrinkly.
As far as evolution – I expect the art to get better, but the material will always be the same. I’m an old school lover in many senses. I one of those people that likes old cars, rotary phones, and hand made everything (just make sure it fits on my ipod.)
Delta Spirit
What shows have you been in lately?
The Art Institute of Jacksonville held a lovely show of our work last August. It was awesome. Hanging posters that promote other things in art shows about yourself is a weird feeling. The last concert we attended/did a poster for was Delta Spirit at Café Eleven, and there are many many more to come. Ok not “many many” but some. Dr. Dog, Low, Black Lips.
What are your thoughts regarding the Jacksonville art scene? Have any suggestions for improvement? Do you read any local jax blogs regularly?
Sean: Don’t get me started.
Local Blogs: All of them. Golly, I love feed readers. Others to note: Wooster Collective, Mike from Burlesque of North America’s “So Much Pileup”, Pitchfork Media’s news stream, Garfield Minus Garfield, Under Consideration’s “Brand New”, OMG Posters!, KAWS’s blog, Cool Hunting
Tim: I grew up in Jacksonville and I had moved away and came back before I realized there is an “art’ scene. I assure you there wasn’t one before. There’s a nice foundation for much more visible scene here, it just needs time to mature. Improvement comes with involvement. I read Vic Ketchman’s blog almost everyday – that guy is hilarious.
Where can we see your work? What can we expect to see in the future?
Check our work and blog at dogandponyprints.com. Expect to see more posters, prints, updates, a new website, music, party people and the like.
Have any advice for anyone wanting to get started in the local art scene and displaying work?
Sean: Do what you love and tell them haters to suck on it. Seriously though, do good work. But more importantly: do good.
Tim: It’s nice to have a mentor, a partner or a friend to share with. Whether it’s a local design teacher, friend from class, your boss at work, or your next door neighbor. Find someone that shares your passion and foster is together. One person trying to get their stuff out there for everyone to appreciate, is going to have a hard time doing alone.
Thanks again for spending some time and letting me interview you guys. I’ve been a big admirer of your work for quite some time. Any last parting words?
Sean: Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?
Tim: Never compromise your work and always have a breath mint handy.
The Walkmen and Vampire Weekend
