Geoff Peveto (The Decoder Ring Design Concern/ American Poster Institute (API)) (US)

Geoff Peveto (The Decoder Ring Design Concern/ American Poster Institute (API)) (US)

Most of you will probably don't know his name but you definitly know his work ! How ? If I tell you that Geoff is the guy behind every Flatstock, this should help you ;) Taking advantage of the coming Flatstock (#33) in Austin TX, we decided to contact him to have his unique point of view on today's poster scene ! I do not know how he found time to answer our questions so close to the opening date, but I really thank him for the patience he showed during the process...

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

"Coma Summer" by Weekend.  It's off their album Sports and it's badass. That or Bloodhouse - "Please Don't Meet Me"

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I live in Austin Texas and own a design and print company called The Decoder Ring, a restaurant called Frank and I am president of The American Poster Institute which runs Flatstock.

You are in charge of Flatstock 33 which going to take place on March 14-17 2012 in Austin TX, is it the first time you do that, or were you also responsible for the previous editions ?

I've been involved with every Flatstock since the first one in San Francisco.

When did the first Flatstcok took place ?

At Cellspace in San Francisco in Sept 2002

For European and rest of the world readers, how would you explain what a Flatstock event is exactly ?

Flatstock is a poster show that showcases rock posters and prints. The cool thing about Flatstock is attendees get to meet the artists who are making the posters vs buying the work from a dealer. The number of artists showing at Flatstock ranges from 100 to 30 depending on the city Flatstock is in. Currently we host in Austin, Chicago, Seattle, and Hamburg Germany. We are hosting Flatstock 34 in Barcelona for the first time this summer.

A part from the US which, we both know, is huge, which other country is important regarding rock posters according to you ?

Canada, UK and Germany are really strong in terms of active poster makers. So is the Netherlands. But there are poster makers all over the world and as this medium continues to grow we are seeing folks pop up in Spain, Italy, Austria, Israel, France and Mexico.

Have you seen many changes since the firsts Flatstocks ?

Really just the change between the first one in San Francisco and Austin. We went from a small art space to a convention center. The only other main difference between each Flatstock is the venue. With Austin and Seattle being inside in convention centers and Chicago, Hamburg and Barcelona being outside at music festivals.

Did you chose the artists yourself, or did you "just have to" validate the requests made by them ?

All attending artists are members of the API and have been confirmed as accredited professionals who are making commissioned work. Flatstock is only open to API members so each Flatstock is made up from the best poster makers in the world.

Does it happen you have to refuse some artists, if so, why ?

We do and it is based on their body of work. Typically anyone who is not allowed to attend either aren't making rock posters, don't have commissioned work or don't have enough work.

Are you a collector yourself ?

You could say that. I got into this because I was collecting Flaming Lips posters. Now days I have more posters then I know what to do with so I don't collect as much as I use to but I do have a pretty nice collection.

If so, what is your top 5 artists and top 5 posters ever ?

My all time favourite is an Afghan Whigs poster by Jeff Kleinsmith. The few posters I have hanging in my house are a Jay Ryan poster for the Flaming Lips and Hum that is badass. A really smart Spoon poster by Aesthetic Apparatus. A Fastbacks poster by Art Chantry and all The Flaming Lips posters Wayne Coyne made in the 90s. I think those fellas would qualify for my top five in both categories.

I know next flatstock will take place in Barcelona, does this means that Flatstock and Flatstock Europe are now "the same" ?

Flatstock has always been Flatstock we used the Europe addition to help grow awareness that the event is international.

Can we expect Flatstock to come to France soon ?

We'll see.  We like to be associated with established music festivals since it gives our artists a built in demographic and allows them to be successful. I love Paris.

You have a particular viewpoint on the poster scene, how do you see it evolve ?

The internet and specifically gigposters.com and Flatstock have helped build an international community so there is a great resource for upcoming artist to get into making rock posters. Ten years ago everyone was kind of operating on their own island in whatever city they were in but once gigposters.com came online we all started seeing awesome work from all over the world and we had a forum to talk about it.

From your point of view, which artist(s) should we give a close eye to in the next few years ?

Here's some of my favorites right now. Landland (Minneapolis), Michael Hacker (Vienna) Scott Campbell (New Orleans), Sonnenzimmer (Chicago), Ryan Duggan (Chicago), Damien Tran( Berlin) DKNG (Los Angeles) Amy Jo (Minneapolis) Jon Vogl (Denver) Drew Millward (Leeds) Luke Drozd (London)

What can we wish you for the future?

I just want to see the screen printing medium continue to grow. Art and music are two of the most important things in the world and poster makers get to bring them together. Pretty swell.

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!