Not only are poster artist Justin Hampton's images darkly memorable, they exude his own love of music and affection for the urban landscape--a combination that can build anticipation for an upcoming rock show in a way that, ahem, even the best journalist cannot. Hampton and fellow artists Emek and Jermaine Rogers view their collective show as a coincidental celebration of the recent repeal of our city's draconian poster ban; the party kicks off at the Showbox on Thurs Sept 5 and continues on Fri Sept 6.
Having been a part of a somewhat indie-minded, DIY community, how have you negotiated the ethics of what to charge for your work and which projects to accept? That can be difficult to deal with--artists should be able to make a reasonable living, but the whole punk ethos can inhibit that. "It's true. There might be a project that I don't want to do, but if the money's there, I'll take it. There are occasions when I'll do something for a reasonable charge if I really like the band or it's a really fun idea. But the one thing that's nice now is that because I have enough of a fan base, I can just do what I want. I don't have to worry about getting a promoter or a band to pay me. I don't have to deal with those awkward entanglements anymore--and I don't have to be the dick."
Where do you come up with your visual concepts? Do you always sit down with band's record? "It's not 100 percent true, but I already like a lot of the bands I do posters for. It is important to listen to the music. For instance, I'm about to do a Sleater-Kinney poster, so I'll get their new CD and really envelop myself in it. If I plan on using caricatures, I definitely seek out photos. And then sometimes you are given very specific guidelines. When Interscope [Records] hired me to do a Marilyn Manson poster, they specifically had something in mind and they wanted to show all the band members."
So how do you feel about the poster ban being overturned? I guess it's not like we're going to see your posters all over telephone poles now... "That's actually not true. Back in the day, when the poster ban wasn't around, every time I did a poster I always included a black-and-white version of it--and I'm going to start doing that again. There will be select areas where the [color] posters will be up, but the flyers will be all around again. It makes me so happy just walking down the street and seeing poles covered again--I get giddy."
