Wednesday, August 1, 2007

FEATURED ARTIST 'EIGHT'

Monkeyink.com is John Howard and his portfolio of gigposter and related artwork.

"Most of the work displayed here springs from the music that the work is about. It is my intention to illustrate the music. The way it sounds, where it comes from, and what it is about. If you are a fan of the music, I hope the poster surprises you and at the same time feels like a nice fit.

My linework tends to have a bold carved feel and I generally work with three to five flat colors that, at least visually, translate to screen printing."

...John Howard in my early days, was my "front man"...meaning in all my publications, I always enjoyed using John's work as the front splash page. Why? Well, John's work invites you to want more...his line is thick, and his imagery is always open to the universe. Nothing has changed in the 20 years (yikes!) since those grand days. We met in Berkeley when I was starting Kär-tön'! New comics arts journal. He worked at the Berkeley Arts store which I haunted frequently, and I believe he was one of the first cartoonists I wrangled. He has gone onto a glorious career designing 'rock' posters for the cream of the crop o' rock stars...not surprising. How he keeps his litho's and silk screen print prices so low, I do not know!, but you gotta check out his lithograph's and silk-screen posters, and T-shirts... and BUY SOME!

Dark Arts of Asia

Step by step revelation of ancient secrets of printmaking from Asia as they enter in unholy matrimony with the dark arts of western Cartoonism...
"...Mats!? reveals "his" signature technique..."
(soundtrack from Sublime Frequencies' :Thai Pop Spectacular.)

Magical Mats!? at Work!: catch up and read this (again)