Artcrank Poster Show, Minneapolis MN
A Poster Party for Bike People April 5 - May 3, 2008
Artcrank is a poster party for bike people in it’s second year at One on One Bicycle Studio in Minneapolis. The show’s organizer Charles Youel is a Creative Director for the Dalton Sherman advertising agency by day. He describes ARTCRANK as his ”cure for spare time.” Though the show is a lot of work, Youel is overwhelmingly positive about it. “All of the artists came through with such beautiful, brilliant work. I remember looking at the work right before the opening, and just getting goosebumps.”
ARTCRANK is all about being accessible. The show’s website proclaims: “Other than walking, biking is the most widely accessible form of transportation, exercise and entertainment in the world - just as the poster is the most widely accessible form of art.” The show’s criteria include a maximum size for the posters and artists are required to have at least 25 copies of their poster to sell at a cost of $25. or less. As Charles says: “I think keeping the rules to a bare minimum helps ensure a diverse body of work. Besides, creative people aren’t usually fond of rules.”
Last year’s show saw a rich mix of creative approaches: “I had this nagging fear that the artists would come up with posters that all looked alike. If you look at the work, you’ll see that certainly didn’t happen. A lot of people screen-printed their posters, but there were archival inkjet prints, digital prints, prints made with spray paint and stencils, even a woodcut or two.”
This year’s show will feature 34 artists from Minnesota and elsewhere. Youel has already chosen all the artists for 2008 and is currently signing people up to participate in the 2009 show. For Charles Youel it sounds like a project to which he’ll continue to surrender his free time: “ARTCRANK has been a way to combine the two ruling passions in my life: my crush on bicycles and my love for great design.”
ARTCRANK takes place April 5 – May 3, 2008 at One On One Bike Studio, 117 Washington Avenue North in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. The opening night party is on Saturday, April 5 at 7:00 pm. For a look at all the posters from 2007, look at the ARTCRANK website.
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