Martin Ansin's "Taxi Driver" Movie Poster

If you visit this site with any regularity, you already know I tend to write reviews for film and television inspired prints that are either currently on sale or are about to go on sale. And while I'll still be pouring the majority of my efforts into those sorts of posts, my daily "Poster Per Diem" feature will focus on awesome prints that have since sold out, never existed in the first place (AKA concept posters) or just bear mentioning. In other words: this is my chance to say, "I never got a chance, for whatever reason, to write about you on this here website, but I think you're really purty and I want to let the world know." Or something like that. Oh, and Per diem is latin for "per day" or "each day."

Taxi Driver Movie Poster
Martin Ansin
24" x 36" (Screen Print) - Numbered
Included with Ticket Price - Edition Size TBD

This one's a little bittersweet for me because, on the one hand, holy shit, it's a Martin Ansin Taxi Driver poster! Again: holy shit, it's a Martin Ansin Taxi Driver poster! On the other hand, this print will only be available to the lucky folks attending a screening of the film in Austin next week. Meaning, if you really want to get your hands on one (and honestly, who doesn't?), then you'd better be prepared to pay a hefty price on the secondary market. But enough whining, it is what it is. And what it is, is a breathtaking piece of artwork by one of the most talented artists in the world for one of the most celebrated films ever made. Ansin skillfully taps into Bickle's isolation, suggesting that even while Travis is walking the crowded streets of New York City, his inability to communicate with those around him has all but guaranteed a sad and solitary existence. In the words of Mr. Bickle himself (taken from Taxi Driver):

"Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man..."

To learn more about the artist, head over to martinansin.com and follow @martinansin. And to keep up to date on all things Mondo, be sure to follow @mondonews on Twitter.

Poster Per Diem: Maxwellito's "Taxi Driver" Concept Art

If you visit this site with any regularity, you already know I tend to write reviews for film and television inspired prints that are either currently on sale or are about to go on sale. And while I'll still be pouring the majority of my efforts into those sorts of posts, my daily "Poster Per Diem" feature will focus on awesome prints that have since sold out, never existed in the first place (AKA concept posters) or just bear mentioning. In other words: this is my chance to say, "I never got a chance, for whatever reason, to write about you on this here website, but I think you're really purty and I want to let the world know." Or something like that. Oh, and Per diem is latin for "per day" or "each day."

Taxi Driver Concept
Maxwellito
Not for Sale

While browsing Behance, I happened upon Maxwellito's "Classic Propaganda" portfolio, which the artist had described as, "kind of Soviet style." I was intrigued. True to his (or her) word, inside I found a collection of distinctly propagandistic looking movie poster concepts. My favorite piece was the above Taxi Driver design for its use of shadow and the clever wall-o-taxis in the background. To learn more about the artist, you can visit Maxwellito's Behance portfolio and maxwellito.com.

Write Up: Grzegorz Domaradzki's "Raging Bull" Movie Posters

Prints like these are the whole reason I created Posterocalypse. I mean that. There's something incredibly satisfying about seeing an artist's work who you've come to respect (and write about) go from a jaw-dropping, but ultimately unattainable, collection of concept illustrations in his Behance portfolio, to now being able to purchase that very artwork you've drooled over for what feels like an eternity. Actually, let's rewind a bit, I'm feeling talkative. Grzegorz Domaradzki ("Gabz") is someone I've been following for a while now (no, not in a "I'm calling from inside your house" sort of way) and was one of the first artists I ever wrote about here. It was January 31st in the Year of our Lord two thousand and eleven, the site had been around for a little over a month, and I was desperately trying to figure out what Posterocalypse was / is / could be (for the record: I'm still not sure). Racked with the sort of indecisive apathy that often accompanies any twentysomething worth his weight in Pringles that decides to create a blog in that most sacred of periods often referred to as "free time" (also known as the 72 hours I was neither working at my soul-crushing job or sleeping in my lumpy bed), I needed to find something that excited me. Well, I found it and its name was "Grzegorz Domaradzki's Vector Movie Posters," or rather, that was the title of my post about Grzegorz Domaradzki's vector movie posters. Long story short, I was blown away by Gabz's Raging Bull artwork and had this to say about the piece:

"And last but not least, we have this wonderful Raging Bull poster. This poster may be my favorite as it perfectly captures the film's beautiful black and white cinematography and much like the boxing bouts, is very minimal except for the flashing bulbs of the reporters. Will somebody please make these posters a reality?!" - Me (1/31/2011)

And here we are! There's an actual Raging Bull print by Grzegorz Domaradzki coming out on Friday (8/24) through Spoke Art! This either means the poster gods are real, love to read art blogs, grant wishes, and watch Minecraft strategy videos on Youtube, or (and this one is far more likely), a ton of other people saw what a talent this guy is and decided they would be stupid not to work with him. Without further ado, here's the art that inspired this lengthy jumble of words and run-on sentences.

Raging Bull Movie Poster (Regular - English)
Grzegorz Domaradzki (AKA Gabz)
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$40 - Limited to 75

Raging Bull Movie Poster (Variant - Polish)
Grzegorz Domaradzki (AKA Gabz)
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$75 - Limited to 25

I love, love, love these prints! Gabz's frenzied line work evokes La Motta's mercurial nature and the quote below De Niro's bust provides that one-two punch to the gut. Also, I'm not sure what it is about foreign languages, I feel the same way about Doyle's and Moss' Japanese prints, maybe it's the otherworldliness of a recognizable image, coupled with words I can't hope to read or understand, but I find it lends the Polish versions of the Raging Bull posters a beautifully strange and surreal quality (which I'm quite partial to). Finally, I really admire the visible restraint on display. To go a bit further, by constructing the background almost completely without detail except for the diffused light from the flashes of the reporting press, Jake La Motta's head is that much bolder and set apart from the world around him. It makes for a beautiful and startling effect.

Raging Bull Movie Poster (Regular - Polish)
Grzegorz Domaradzki (AKA Gabz)
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$40 - Limited to 75

Raging Bull Movie Poster (Variant - English)
Grzegorz Domaradzki (AKA Gabz)
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$75 - Limited to 25

Grzegorz Domaradzki's Raging Bull screen prints will be available at a random time on Friday (8/24) through Spoke Art's online store. Warning: these posters are gonna go fast, so be sure to follow @Spoke_Art on Twitter for the exact drop time! To learn more about artist Gabz, be sure to checkout iamgabz.com and his Facebook page.

Zoltron's "Raging Bull" Movie Poster

What I'm going to post today is a little lazy as some of it is from my previous poster blog, but I'm honestly shocked (and maybe even a little angry) that this print is still available for purchase. It should have sold out within minutes of going online (a la Mondo)!

Raging Bull

Zoltron's Raging Bull poster is absolutely beautiful and perfectly reflects Scorsese's breathtaking and uncompromising vision. One of the things that first popped for me with this poster was the artist's crazed Ralph Steadman-esque title work. It just gives everything around it a manic energy, something De Niro as La Motta absolutely exudes in certain scenes. Which brings me to the man himself, Jake La Motta. This guy just looks beat to hell. The blotchy variations of gray on his body really go a long way in not only illustrating what appears to be blood, sweat, cuts and bruises, but also providing some visual depth to his face and torso. The bottom line is this, it’s an amazing film and an absolute stunner of a poster - you should own both!

This post is actually perfectly timed because Zoltron's Raging Bull poster has been available for about one year now (I bought mine in May of 2010), so this is kind of like an anniversary. The poster was originally designed for the Red Vic Movie House in San Francisco, but whether you're by the bay or not, this belongs on every cinephile's wall. The Raging Bull poster measures 16" x 22", is limited to an edition of 100, costs $40 and can be purchased through Zoltron's website. Again, how are these still available? While you're there be sure to take a look around at some of Zoltron's other insane designs (*cough* Tim and Eric gig poster *cough*). Tomorrow I'll be covering Chris Ware's new poster for Mondo. Have a great night everyone!

Dan Sherrat's "Goodfellas" Movie Poster

I came across this poster earlier today thanks to my handy dandy RSS reader and immediately fell in love. Now I’ll freely admit that Goodfellas isn't my favorite Scorsese film (I’m more partial to Taxi Driver and Casino), but it’s still a fantastic film and is obviously the work of a master filmmaker. I’ve written about the talented Mr. Sherrat before, but I’m more than happy to write about him again, as he’s clearly a superbly talented chap.

Goodfellas

In an alternate universe, if Goodfellas was an animated feature, and Scorsese was some sort of bizarro Miyazaki who only worked on animated gangster films, this is exactly what the film’s poster would have looked like. Alright, so I may have gone off the reservation a bit on that one, but a man can dream. Dan has done a great job recreating the dichotomy between the naive daydreams of a mobster-obsessed teen using Ray Liotta’s aspirational narration, and the dark, bloody underbelly of the violent and uncontrollable reality of crime with the dark and oh so bloody pistol. Alright, it’s official, I’m most likely reading way too much into this. Bottom line, this is a stunning poster, and if you’re anything like me, you can’t wait to hang this on your wall.

Dan Sherrat's Goodfellas poster is available through his Shop Reworking Titles blog for £20 (roughly $32). The poster measure 594 mm x 420 mm (or 23.4" x 16.5" for US readers), and from what I can tell does not appear to be a limited edition or screen print. Be sure to check out Shop Reworking Titles for more prints and his Eat Sleep Live Film feature, where he talks about a few of his designs. It looks like he also hosts a portfolio of his work at heartstrand.co.uk.

Disturbia Clothing's "Travis Bickle" & "Redrum" Art Prints

Taxi Driver is easily one of my top ten films of all time and possibly my favorite Scorsese film (although I also happen to love Casino). Disturbia Clothing, a company I'm not all that familiar with has recently released a Taxi Driver-inspired art printed, titled "Travis Bickle." But wait, there's more. Disturbia had also previously released The Shining-inspired art print, titled "Redrum." Pretty cool, right?


Travis Bickle

This print captures one of the films most iconic scenes (in a film filled with iconic scenes) near the very end of its runtime. In terms of photo realism, it's pretty spot on. And in a funny way, this print and the film have more in common then one would think. Taxi Driver, a film that really pushed the envelope of what was acceptable in cinema (as many films of the 70s did), had an issue with the MPAA and in order to get an R rating, Scorsese was forced to desaturate the color of the blood to make it less realistic looking. This print also features blood that, while not desaturated in any way (quite the opposite, in fact), has certainly been tampered with and makes the blood less realistic in appearance and indeed more stylistic. Wow - okay, that might have been a bit of a reach on my part, but you've got to respect me for trying! Anywho, the "Travis Bickle" art print is available through Disturbia's store in the 'Art Prints' section for £17 (roughly $27) plus shipping. The screen printed poster measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 50. Get'em while they're hot!


Redrum

Reprinted from a previous review I had written on the "Redrum" art print: Somehow Kubrick's The Shining is one of those rare films that continues and, in my opinion, will continue for a long long time, to inspire artist to create some magnificent (read: horrifying) artwork. What a masterful layout. Using Jack Torrance’s outline as a frame for the twins and elevators of blood? Brilliant, brilliant stuff. Add to that the inspired inclusion of the labyrinth and you’ve got one amazing design. I have to admit I wasn’t sure how I felt about the lighter almost-pink blood for about the first five seconds, but now I’m all in. The incoming flood of sanguine fluid really draws in the eye. The "Redrum" print measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 50 for the low cost of £17 (around $27) through Disturbia's online store. These have been on sale for a while, so I can't imagine there are that many left. You can check out the artist, Michele Boscagli, through his Myspace page.

As a reminder for those of you that haven't entered the Posterocalypse Fighter giveaway yet, I'll be giving away The Fighter movie poster by Alan Hynes and a mystery print on February 28th to one lucky person who leaves a comment with their name and email address (US only) in last Saturday's blog post (it was titled "Giveaway - The Fighter by Alan Hynes"). Good luck!