Part Man. Part Machine. All Cop.
The Future of Law Enforcement.
Some of you may remember that tagline from the sci-fi classic Robocop. Released in 1987 to less than enthusiastic reviews from film critics, Robocop earned itself a diehard cult following among lovers of over the top violence. Though over twenty years old, the film can still pack a theater. Well, specifically, it can pack Texas’ Alamo Cinema Drafthouse. Every month, in addition to showing major studio and indy new releases, the Drafthouse dusts off films from the past to be seen as intended- on the big screen. “So what?,” you say. “Why is this relevant on website dedicated to printmaking?”
Well, in conjunction with these re-releases, the Alamo regularly issues new, hand-screenprinted posters by contemporary illustrators. Here’s an example…
Tyler Stout is the artist behind Alamo’s Robocop poster as well as some other great posters including The Thing (a la John Carpenter), The Lost Boys, Blade Runner, The Road Warrior, and Big Trouble in Little China. On January 22nd Stout put up about 60 of these for sale on his site (I’m not sure on all the details but I know the Alamo also sells some) and they’re already gone! I already spent my January print budget or I would have picked up his Robocop.
While they may not fit the strict description of a “fine art” print (whatever that is), they certainly emphasize the value of the hand-made object. From an aesthetic (not to mention business) point of view, these hand-printed interpretations of old movies are a great idea. They’re like the visual arts equivalent of a well-done cover song… familiar and new at the same time.
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I live here and I didn’t even know they did that! Amazing. In my defense, I don’t get out much.
Not to slam RoboCop, but I think this one is my favorite.