Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

FROM A BASEMENT IN SEATTLE

Akashic Books

Contents

FOREWORD by Jeff Ament...........................7INTRODUCTION by Eddie Vedder.....................9D&L SCREENPRINTING...............................11POSTERS..........................................12ABOUT THE ARTIST.................................155

Chapter One

In the screenprinting world, there are two types of artists: those who print their own posters, and those who hire a printer. Printing one's own posters requires a number of complex elements: multiple large screens, emulsion, exposure unit, washout booth, pressure washer, vacuum table, drying racks, large-format printer for film, stacks of large sheets of paper, homemade or automated press, squeegees, paper guillotine, a rainbow of different buckets of ink, ample space for storage, printing, and drying, a tremendous amount of diligence, and-most important of all—time.

I've always been envious of the artists who print their own work. They can experiment on the fly with colors and overprinting, changing things up as they go. All things which they can then factor into how they are going to design future posters. At the same time I am envious of them for that, I don't understand at all how they have the time to not only work on the designs, but to then go through the many steps of the printing process.

Luckily for me, one of the best screenprinters in the country happens to be located in my neighborhood. Justin Hampton turned me on to D&L back in 2005, and with the exception of about five posters, they've printed all the images in this book. They are integral to the look and feel of my work. The guys at D&L never cease to amaze me in their ability to not only crank out high-quality posters, but to then deal with the various quirks and peculiarities of the array of artists who they print for. This roster of artists includes some of the biggest names in the rock poster world: Emek, Jermaine Rogers, Justin Hampton, Rob Jones, Todd Slater, Daniel Danger, and Tyler Stout, to name just a few. Over the years that I've been working with D&L, it seems like the majority of poster artists out here have had their work pulled through D&L's screens. They are a major hub of the screenprinting world, and their handiwork is rightly hanging on walls all across the globe.

I am beyond grateful for all the hard work that D&L has put into printing my posters over the past six years, and I can't thank them enough for always putting up with me.

D&L Screenprinting is: Steve Horvath, Cary Holt, Jason Hunt, Pete Jay, Josh Dieters, Jon Smith, and Odulia Horvath.

Brad Klausen Seattle, Washington September 2010

This was my very first poster, and was an offset print rather than a screenprint. Jeff Ament told me one day about a design concept he had for the Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee's (JAMPAC) push to make low-power radio legal and thus allow for more voices to be heard on the airwaves.

Jeff described his concept and asked if I would bring it to life. Originally, he imagined a big boot of the FCC hanging over a one-man band.

I adapted the head image I had previously used for some of Pearl Jam's merchandise from the Binaural tour, and stuck it on the body of our one-man band/radio station. The pencil drawing was then run through the Photoshop "cutout" filter to create the effect of the final image. My friend Blake had just turned me on to this effect, and I was using it on everything. At this early stage, I was mostly focused on using the computer to design, and wasn't really drawing very much by hand.

During a period of my life where I would say I was stuck in quite a rut, wallowing in depression, my sister threw out the suggestion that I should take a class. Do something other than just sit around being unhappy. This sounded like a good idea. So after I hung up the phone with Lauren, I went online and looked up what classes the Seattle School of Visual Concepts had to offer. Much to my surprise, there was a poster design class being taught by Jeff Kleinsmith. I couldn't believe it. Jeff is one of my favorite artists and has been a huge influence on my desire to make posters. I had been wanting to get into designing screenprints for years, and now one of the godfathers of the genre happened to be teaching a class in my town. This is the poster I designed for that class. Little did I know then the impact the class would have on my life. I am forever in debt to Jeff and to my sister for changing the direction of my life.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from FROM A BASEMENT IN SEATTLEby Brad Klausen Copyright © 2010 by Brad Klausen. Excerpted by permission of Akashic Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.