Viz Arts
BY RICK LEVIN
Post No Fliers
Emek’s art is a sound to see
B
illboard in 2007 published a list of “The 25 Best
Rock Posters of All Time,” one of those grand
run-downs so favored by music magazines
dedicated to debating the historical-importance hierarchy
of everything from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to the 20
most bitchin’ speed-metal guitarists in the universe.
Notching slots among the poster immortals is the late-
’60s/early ’70s work of David Singer and Randy Tuten,
which traffi cs in broad gestures and uber-earnest symbolism,
and the unmistakably wonky lysergic balloonery of
psychedelic masters like Wes Wilson and Rick Griffen. Then
there is the lamentable paucity of strong, original work in the
’90s (barring the inexplicable absence from said list of the
seminal, Mudhoney-era posters by Art Chantry, or anything
from the ’80s punk explosion, especially the iconic work of
SST maven R. Pettibon).
What really stands out on the Billboard list — surprisingly, as
this double-aught decade already has been quantifi ed, qualifi ed
and ceremoniously cursed as nothing but an un-innovative
rehash of retro styles — is the recent work of Portland-based
artist Emek, who also designed this year’s blazingly creative
and perhaps already legendary Oregon Country Fair poster.
Neither completely out-there nor patently plagiaristic,
Emek’s work is at once a nod to the entire history of rock
posters as well as a totally new development for the genre
— a giant, mold-breaking leap forward in terms of what the
rock poster can do and be, conceptually and stylistically
and politically.
Dubbed “the thinking man’s poster artist,” Emek —
born 1970, in Israel, unto a family of artists — is utterly
in and of this 21st century, a young artist conversant with
the lineage of his chosen medium and confi dent in the
conveyance of his attractively idiosyncratic vision. Take
a look at his brand-new book, Emek … the thinking man’s
poster artist... : In posters promoting musicians far-ranging
as Erykah Badu and Kraftwerk to Pixies and Audioslave,
this 300-page retrospective reveals an admirably wide
reach of styles, as well as an uncommon fl air for the
innovative and downright surprising.
For instance, there is the somber, sepia-tinted
Decemberists poster, akin to a piece of 1920s Polish
prole propaganda, in which a monstrous and somehow
melancholy whale hovers above a stark agricultural
moonscape of bare trees, graves, wheelbarrow and
windmill. Now jump to the squared-off fl ier for DJ
Shadow, as minimalist as the former is complexly detailed,
and a quintessential work of Emek iconography, featuring
a blood-red thumbprint spun under a turntable’s needle,
like a piece of vinyl.
Emek’s artwork often blends, to stunning effect, organic
or biological elements with the cold architecture of mechanic
or post-industrial machinery, and his apocalyptic landscapes
are animated by an overarching concern for our sad planet’s
ecological health — or lack thereof. His politics are strong
but subtle, and never tendentious. “When possible, I like to
put in some kind of a social message,” Emek told me last
week by phone from his home in Portland. “Rock posters
have been kind of a fun vehicle.”
And, with each new rock poster, Emek unfl inchingly
captures some essential aspect of the band at hand, even
while leaving the inimitable mark of his artistry. Whether
it is one of his gorgeous, intimate posters for Badu, or the
medieval impressionism of his work for The Mars Volta, or
the Terry Gilliam-like steampunk-cum-Gray’s-Anatomy of
a Pixies fl ier, the artist never fails to honor his subject with
a sort of respectful scrutiny and intense focus on both the
medium and the medium’s message.
“Because I was raised in my parents’ art studio, for
them the philosophy of art was you should have a message
or an idea,” Emek explains. “You start with that. You have
to conceptualize. Basically, you’re your own art director.
Once I have a concept, I fi gure out what style I am going
to work in. For me, the most important thing is the style...
One day I could be drawing skulls and monsters, another
day I could be drawing trees and fl owers,” he adds.
Emek, by the way, charted three posters on Billboard’s
top 25, landing as high as fourth on the all-time list for his
haunting Coachella 2007 poster. Despite garnering such
high accolades (including praise from R. Crumb and Art
Chantry), his work remains essentially demotic, decidedly
unstuffy and a bit rough-hewn in terms of approachability.
Emek’s posters are the equivalent of garage rock — art
made in the basement for the sheer joy of making it.
“I came of age during punk rock,” he says of what
was arguably the most poster-prolifi c era in music so far.
“This is art you can put on the street. DIY (Do It Yourself)
came way before the punk movement. The history of rock
posters was more about street culture. On several levels, I
try to make my art affordable, because it’s people’s art.”
Even so, Emek says he is comfortable negotiating the
vagaries of the marketplace without compromising his vision. “I
don’t look at it as branding in the same way as other products,”
he says of creating posters for bands. “I try to keep my stuff
looking not so slick or corporate... I’m lucky enough that I get
to pick and choose my jobs, and I found a niche that works for
me. I don’t know what ‘selling out’ really is,” he adds.
“I think a lot of people come to me because they like my
aesthetic,” Emek says. “Of all the types of commercial art I
could do, I chose music because, on a primal or basic level,
it’s a sort of coming together for people.”
Granted, it’s natural for fans of Emek’s work to wonder
about different projects he may be planning down the road
a ways, say in fi ve or ten years. Will he someday paint
expressionist triptychs of watermelons in watercolor?
Polaroid photography of refrigerators? Though Emek
doesn’t rule out the possibility of some day making a jump
to a new format, his answer to inquiries of “What’s next?”
is refreshingly blunt and totally sensible.
“People ask me that question, and you’d think after all
this time I’d have an answer,” he says of moving beyond
poster art. “It’s still fun. It’s still about listening to the music
and coming up with an idea, and the whole adrenaline rush
of a deadline. Every project has its own challenges and it
keeps it new and interesting. When it ceases to be fun, I’ll
take a more active look,” Emek adds. “So far this has been
working, so I keep doing it.”
ew
EMEK IN TOWN
WHAT: Artist reception
WHERE: WOW Hall, 291 W. 8th Ave.
WHEN: 5-7pm Friday, July 29
WHY: Emek will be on hand to sign copies
of his posters and new book for sale
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EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 28, 2011 21