Soundgarden’s 2nd gig poster of a two-night stand in Oakland is created by Chris Shaw. It is a 20″ x 33″ 6-color Screenprint and is a signed/numbered edition of 250.
On sale Monday, February 18th at a random time HERE.
I was thrilled to do this poster. I love Soundgarden, its a local show, and better, it meant I got to work with my good pal Chuck Sperry printin’ at Hangar 18. This is the second of a pair of posters for Soundgarden’s Oakland shows at the Fox on the 12th and 13th of Feb. The first poster is a beauty by Chuck that can be seen at www.chucksperry.net
Chuck and I decided on some collaboration to make the 2 posters a loose pair – though an odd pair they may be. After deciding on a size, color format, and a general theme riffing on Soundgarden’s “King Animal” album title, we both simply did our thing.
My poster’s image is The Madonna of the Squid. Modern Icons are a theme I’ve worked with for a long time, mainly with paintings, but occasionally they make it onto rock posters as well. I conceived a Giant Squid incorporated into a classic orthodox Madonna. Chuck was working with ideas about power, privilege and State. My image is about the many tentacles of the Church. Church & State. Its not intended to be a dark piece or brash political statement, but, like most of my work there’s some underlying metaphors. I won’t get into it deeply here, however, I will say that I don’t particularly like squids and sea monsters, yet they fascinate me.
The screenprint sizzles with 6 colors, including gold and silver, creating some killer metallic color effects. I also used a transparent black ink for the black plate which brings out some deep tones and textures with the underlying ink layers. Many of the metallic textures and mezzotints were created by hand with wax on old-school blueline, the piece has a real analog feel. A big thanks to Chuck for his expertise and alchemy to make this print look great. -Chris Shaw