Are you looking at the telephone pole?

Art really does surround the world we live in. Almost every inch is the habitat of some sort of man-made art. Advertising is often made, in part, by artists, and the world of gig posters exactly describes the intersection of commerce and artistic vision.

Posters are made to promote shows. These shows (hopefully) net a profit for someone, whether it is the venue, promoter or (usually lastly) the band. Posters and advertising are a completely necessary component of live music production, but an increasingly large number of artists are making the medium truly innovative and beautiful.

With that in mind, look around and see the great art that people are creating both here in Portland and around the world. A good place to start is by going to shows and seeing bands. That arena is the place where awesome gig posters are most prevalent. The online savvy (aka everyone) should head over to the poster archive at www.gigposters.com. There you can peruse a large database of gig posters, as well as interact with the community that is involved with making the art that represents your favorite bands.

Here are some of my favorite posters from local and national artists.