I found an obituary at Billboard . As a graphic designer by trade, I've gravitated toward poster art for as long as I can remember.  After college, I had aspirations of becoming one of those well-known poster and flyer artists that advertises gigs locally while inadvertently informing the look and feel of a generation and its music, sort of along the lines of Art Chantry , Raymond Pettibon or Emek .  Grimshaw was such an artist, someone who managed to visually capture a place and time memorably while helping to establish its aesthetic. Music and art define points in time and identify cultural shifts in consciousness.  From album covers and gig posters and flyers, to video and t-shirt design, would music have the same weight without its visual component?  Would any era in music's still developing history, whether it be jazz or country, disco or punk, new wave or hip-hop, have as much impact without texture or color, appearance or tone?  I personally ca...

As with last year , SXSW is approaching and the poster art is rolling in. I'm not normally supplied accreditation for the art I receive via email, normally the point of sending such things being for purposes of promoting the featured performers, but if any designer or artist responsible for this art wishes to send me their information, I'll be more than happy to apply credit.  Being a graphic designer/artist myself, I more than understand the importance of ownership in terms of artwork. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Professionally, I'm a graphic designer, though I don't do much actual "designing" in my line of work. Matriculating at an art college left me few avenues for vocation, but I've always been drawn to poster art, even before I knew what graphic design was. Part of what I love about music is its visual accompaniment: show flyers, record covers, t-shirt design and other concertgoer ephemera or printed bits of historic matter. SXSW is upon us and, with it, my inbox is swelling with announcements of appearances from record labels and PR firms alike. I even got an invite this year, but money's short so that dream was short-lived. With that in mind, I figured I'd dedicate an entry to this year's SXSW poster art. So, consider this art-meets-performance schedule-meets-record label and PR promotion. Please note that I don't have much information regarding the artists of these posters, so if any information becomes available, or if the artists themselves ha...