Handcrafted handbills courtesy of Clinton Reno
By Travis Hoewischer |
|
Columbus poster ace Clinton Reno doesn't bear any of the traits of your typical artist.
He doesn't brood. He isn't mysterious. He's honest.
His biggest inspiration?
His wife. And James Brown.
"It's a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman," he says with a laugh. "It's very much that. Before she came along I never really finished anything. I think I'd just sit around and play video games, if not for her."
Well, then, Columbus music fans can thank Becky Reno for the dazzling variety of screen-printed handbills that grace local venues under her husband's imprint. His pieces are graphic illustrations, screen-printed in as many as four colors. They often personify the lyrics, album titles, and overall attitude of national acts like Franz Ferdinand and Gnarls Barkley, as well as locally known entities like Miranda Sound and Donewaiting.com.
Sure, anyone with a Sharpie, scotch tape and a nearby telephone pole can promote a rock show - but not everyone can do it quite like Reno. It has always been his goal to create something with a longer shelf life.
The Swell Season, Miranda Sound, Over the Rhine, and Roboctopus Polaroid
Illustrations by Clinton Reno
"Ultimately, I try to make something that people would want to hang in their house and frame," he said. "The end goal is to get this in the hands of 100 to 150 of the band's biggest fans."
Often, Reno counts himself as one of them. His posters are pieces that he not only thinks appeal to fans' aesthetics, but also communicate his own affinity for a band. He's really hit the right note when a band takes notice, he says. Several have commented through promoters and venues about how they've marveled at his work, and a member of Nashville's My Morning Jacket even approached him at his North Market booth to compliment an MMJ poster for sale.
He says he doesn't like to display his own posters at home, but has hung signed copies of a select few.
"It's cool," he said with a grin. "The Neko Case poster just says 'Love.' The Swell Season is signed 'Clinton, this is beautiful.' That's pretty awesome. It's crazy, weird."
In some ways, he says, the poster-maker is akin to a bootlegger, in the sense that his posters appeal to many who have attended a specific show, and want a keepsake they don't have to tear down from a concert hall wall.
"Yeah, sometimes I'll go hunting for a [recording of a] show, and I'm like, 'Awesome!'" he said. "It's kind of the same thing."
Some bands look down on the poster industry because they feel their likeness is being capitalized on, but most, Reno says, think it's a positive thing.
"I've never had anyone [who was] unhappy," he said. "I mean, they get a poster every time they stop in a city. That's pretty cool."
Reno said the bands appreciate the creative aspect of someone who wants to help promote their work.
"The Decemberists are out of control poster-friendly," he said. "They gathered all the posters anyone made of them last year and sold them on eBay, gave all the money to charity. That's what you should do - take advantage of the fact that this is going to happen."
There are a variety of Reno-made pieces floating around. His designs appear on T-shirts, posters promoting local restaurants, and he even showed a few custom toys and art prints at local art galleries last spring. The Columbus College of Art and Design graduate is also looking to branch out into other projects.
But, ultimately it comes down to the fans and the bands, he says. The popularity of his posters has helped him appreciate the subjectivity of artistic value.
"If someone thinks something is artistic, it has merit because that person thinks it does. Who am I to say, 'that's not artistic,' or 'that's not a poster'? Because someone will [think so]."
Reno hopes his art and the music that inspires it would be viewed the same way: subjectively.
"Some people are so cut-and-dried: 'this is amazing, this sucks' ... but, how can you say that absolutely? If it brings you enjoyment, then it's worth something," Reno said.
See Clinton Reno at the North Market the first Sunday of every month. For more, go to clintonreno.com.
Reno Recommends: Columbus Poster Houses
Enginehouse13:
The veteran, the patriarch, the man known as enginehouse13. He's gruff but charming and taught me so much about screen printing and the business of it all.
Farm Barn:
These guys could design circles around me with their eyes shut. They have such great sensibilities when it comes to what they do, and churn out simplistically beautiful work every single time.
Will Ruocco:
This guy won a Juno Award for his work with the Tragically Hip. What else need be said?
Originally Published: September 1, 2009
