Legendre+Rutter » culture

New Posters

Legendre Rutter — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:16:18 +0000

The Felt & Wire Shop of Mohawk Paper is home to Legendre+Rutter’s poster collection, which is available for sale to the public. For July, we announce six new posters:

The Cow of Mr. Warhol, for il Museo in Erba exhibition, Switzerland
Silver Bullets, a film by Joe Swanberg
Uncle Kent, a film by Joe Swanberg
Metal Crystal, for the release of the Richard Pinhas album release
Fall French Market 2010, for the Lycée Français
Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Series of four posters for “La Mucca di Mr. Warhol”

for the upcoming fall release of “Uncle Kent,” a film by Joe Swanberg

Dangerous Liaisons : The 3 Posters Project

Legendre Rutter — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:57:10 +0000

It started as one poster, based on one sketch done in my kitchen, from an idea that occurred to me while helping my 5 year-old make a Mardi Gras mask for school. What better metaphor for a seductively beautiful—but socially incompatible—relationship than a gorgeous, fat, pretentious, pink cat luring a little birdie with her feathered party mask? It’s so Baroque and so aggressively immediate at the same time. I tried to follow the rule that posters should be made quickly. While the drawing took just 5 minutes with my Pentel brush pen, the finished art for the silkscreened poster took a full (but electric) day. This is what started it all:

D&L Screenprinting in Seattle printed the final 5-color piece (on red paper) from a multichannel Photoshop file I made from various tissue layers, all made with the brush pen. Even the type is rendered this way.

This project led me to make a series of sketches of this relationship between cat and bird. In some, I wanted to let the bird take the dominant role. In others, I wanted the viewer to question who was in control. I allowed them to take on human characteristics—both physical and emotional. The look in the cat’s eye could be either lustful or suspicious, depending on the context and point-of-view.

When an opportunity arose to give a presentation about poster design at an upcoming student design conference, I decided to make use of these sketches to create two additional posters—each for the same subject as the first, but for different theater groups. The three unique “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” posters, in my mind, would allow me to demonstrate that while there are numerous “right” answers when it comes to realizing an idea, the actual “act of making” is crucially linked to the ultimate success of the poster.

My second poster was the result of some sketches I had already done for ceramic bowl paintings.

The bird became the whiskers and mouth of the cat. Is the bird really there or is it made manifest by the cat’s inner desire? If it is really there, is it in danger or living in a symbiotic relationship with its host? It seemed to me, this was as iconic an example of a dangerous liaison as I could make.

The third poster was my effort to give the bird the upper hand. Stylistically, I also wanted to harken back to the ornate setting of the movie I remembered and loved. While I think I had some drawings that were more elegant and “refined” than the final poster drawing, I deferred to my first drawing in the series. It felt more honest for me to do it that way. Too often, I take too many steps. I don’t trust my gut the way I should.

The first and final sketch for the third poster in the series. I followed my instinct.

Other attempts at the main character, using two different pens.

And then, the final poster (made for silkscreen printing, of course).

Is the cat afraid, angry, nervous…? Is the bird wary or relaxed? Confident or cautious? That’s the fun part… allowing you to decide.

il Museo in Erba Exhibits “Picasso”

Legendre Rutter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:40:46 +0000

There is in Paris, as in many cities in the world, a museum made for children: the Musée en Herbe (Museum in Grass). The first foreign satellite of this museum is in Bellinzona, Switzerland, which offers special exhibitions related to the world of art created for children. il Museo in Erba, whose goal it is to surprise, amaze and educate kids, offers them a space created precisely for their unique “culture of play.” Each quarter, the museum offers an exhibit centered around the work of one famous artist. For the Fall of 2009, il Museo in Erba has created a special children’s exhibit featuring some of the work of Pablo Picasso. The poster designed for this exhibit is a continuation in a series of posters that serve as biographical portraits of the featured artists.

Poster for the Picasso exhibit at il Museo in Erba, by Yann Legendre

Posters designed for previous exhibits at il Museo in Erba: “Gauguin” and “Niki de Saint Phalle.”

Where Have All the (U.S.) Posters Gone?

Legendre Rutter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:58:25 +0000

We can argue all day and night about why the printed poster is disappearing from the visual landscape, but the truth is that posters are still being produced all over the world. Designers everywhere are creating posters that are well-conceived and beautifully crafted, but there is evidence that the poster is simply not taken as seriously in the U.S. as it is in almost every other part of the industrialized world. As evidence, look at the major International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA) endorsed poster competitions around the world over the past year. Very few US designers enter these competitions and, for the most part, even fewer win anything.

Two such competitions stand out: the prestigious Toyama International Poster Triennial in Japan and the China International Poster Biennial. At Toyama, of the 4,516 posters submitted for judging from 49 countries, only 52 were from the USA. And of those, only 7 were selected for exhibition at the Toyama Museum of Modern Art (out of 409 exhibited). In China, the numbers were even more stark: of the 178 posters selected from all entries, 106 came from Asia, 66 from Europe, and only 5 came from all of North and South America.

What can we say? We’re trying to do our part to keep the American poster alive on the international design scene. Legendre+Rutter had three finalists chosen for exhibition in Toyama and four of the five US posters selected in China.

Finalists in the Toyama International Poster Triennial: “Cet Obscur Objet du Désir” by Legendre+Rutter and "Imagination" by Yann Legendre

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Lance Rutter, Toyama Poster Triennial

Finalists in the China International Poster Biennial: "Niki de Sant Phalle" and "Fantasmagoria Fukuda" by Yann Legendre

Finalists in the China International Poster Biennial: "Music Awards Dinner" and "Homage to Mucha" by Lance Rutter