I started following Art Chanrty’s Facebook feed some time ago. He fills his posts with insights on pieces of design and ephemera that span the century. From napkin prints to automotive typography, Chantry’s no-nonsense posts are great reads when you need to kill some time and great inspiration when you are in a slump. He is the only person that I “know” who has topped out his Facebook Friend quote of 5000! He is that interesting.
I received my first formal education on Chantry’s work in Tim Musso’s design class back at CSULB and have been a fan ever since. He built his reputation in the 80s and 90s by practicing a low-tech, “DIY” approach to design. While other designers were striving for perfection, Chantry was capitalizing on imperfection. By pulling images and text from their original publications and collaging them together, he created bold, eye-catching work (of course the florescent inks don’t hurt either) that defined the Seattle music scene. Chantry is one of the most influential names in the rock poster/packaging biz. In short Chantry is the master of cut-n-paste design.
The other day (several months ago now) he announced that he needed to sell some stuff and, naturally, I responded that I wanted to buy some stuff. I sent him a message stating that I am into “grunge, metal, monsters, dinosaurs & screen printing” and we hammered out a deal: I will send him money and he will send me prints. A week later I had several incredible, hand selected posters from the artist himself.
The poster choice alone goes to show what type of designer/person Mr. Chantry is. I asked for monsters and I got monsters. I am sure that he has stacks of posters from the years and he went through and grabbed ones he thought would fit my fancy… and boy did they! According to Wikipedia: “[Art Chantry’s] work has been exhibited at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, the Smithsonian and the Louvre” and now my house!
Look him up when you get the chance. You won’t regret it.
