Let’s face it: Not all art shows are for everyone.
They can be esoteric, prickly or just plain difficult. And then there’s the problem sometimes of subject matter that just isn’t appropriate for children.
No such drawbacks, however, apply when it comes to Colorado State University’s 15th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition, which continues through Oct. 19.
Little if anything in the artistic realm holds broader appeal than posters, which by their very nature are designed to reach out and communicate their message to as many people as possible.
They are also a medium that all of us know and understand, because posters are an everyday part of our lives from notices posted on bulletin boards at work about the big company golf outing to the splashy bills outside movie theaters.
Of course, not all posters are created equal. Some are better designed than others, and the three directors of Colorado State’s biennial exhibition (a local graphic designer and two members of the school’s art faculty) scour the world to find the best talents in the field.
In preparation for this year’s offering, Phil Risbeck, a professor of graphic design, traveled to Central and South America, a region that does not have as strong a tradition of poster production as some other parts of world, in search of up-and- coming designers.
Because of that trip, the exhibition has a higher concentration than usual of selections from those areas, such as two theater posters by José Manuel Morelos of Mexico, with their arresting, close-up photos, such as a fish hook piercing a cross carved out of raw meat.
Put simply, for a month every two years, Fort Collins becomes the poster capital of the United States and perhaps the world. Not only is the offering, which began in 1979, this country’s oldest and largest international showcase of contemporary posters, but it also happens to be the only major one.
Almost all other similar exhibitions take place in Europe. Fueled by the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and others, the continent was a hotbed of poster development in the 19th and 20th centuries and remains the field’s most significant center of creativity and production.
This year’s invitational, divided between two galleries, contains 169 posters by 87 artists from 31 countries, showing a staggering range of styles and approaches.
As usual, many of the posters advertise cultural events, such as one by Yurdaer Altintas of Turkey promoting what is apparently a Jean Vigo film festival, with an elegant art-deco look reminiscent of French posters from the early 20th century.
Also noteworthy is a theater poster by Miroslaw Adamczyk of Poland, featuring a bold, central graphic with the face of a silhouetted head bent upward like a mask to reveal the text, and the potent use of simple, positive-negative imagery by Gianni Bortolotti of Italy for a poster advertising a production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
In the socio-political realm, none of the posters is more powerful than two by Vladimir Chaika of Russia, especially one marking the five-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.
Using matches (including one partially singed) he happened to keep from a visit to the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center, Chaika spells out the word “life.” Shown nearby is the partially charred box of matches with one protruding match on fire.
Supplementing the invitational is a series of on- and off-campus satellite exhibitions, including a not-to- miss one in Colorado State’s Visual Arts Building featuring posters by 24 Russian designers commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
Also noteworthy is a selection of works at Lincoln Center by this year’s Chinese-born honor laureate, Fang Chen, an internationally known designer who teaches integrative arts at Pennsylvania State University.
Provocative, moving and witty – posters can be all these things and more. To see some of the best ones around, jump in the car and head to Fort Collins.
“15th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition”
ART EXHIBITION | A group of 169 posters by 87 designers from 31 countries | Hatton Gallery, Visual Arts Building, and Curfman Gallery, Lory Student Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins | Free | Hatton Gallery, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays, Curfman Gallery, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays; through Oct. 19; 970-491-1989 or .
“Moscow Artists Remember Chernobyl”
ART EXHIBITION | Posters commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster | Glass Gallery, Visual Arts Building, Colorado State University, Fort Collins | Free | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays, through Oct. 19; 970-491-1989 or .
Fang Chen
ART EXHIBITION | Survey of posters by honor laureate Fang Chen | Intimate Gallery, Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins | Free | 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays, through Oct. 19; .
