Affordable Wallpaper: Concert Posters

Wallpaper fever may have peaked but it has by no means passed. We're still seeing fantastic new designs everywhere, including some in unexpected mediums like concert posters. We love posters — its the graphic designer in us (Kayla) — and we love wallpaper so it makes sense that these lovely pieces might satisfy our craving for both, at least for now...

We're renters which means that wallpaper isn't an option for us both because of our landlord and certain financial restrictions (good wallpaper does not come cheap). There are plenty of great, cost-effective ways of using wallpaper out there — framing a small portion like art, wallpapering the inside of bookcases or other furniture, we've even seen recovered lampshades with wallpaper — but this trend of pattern-oriented design in concert posters has us particularly inspired.

All of these wallpaper-inspired pieces came from a great compilation of concert posters over at Well Medicated and any of them would look lovely in a proper matte and frame, dry-mounted onto board or even tiled in repetition like a wall of advertising on the street. Here are a few links to purchase concert posters:

Hammerpress (letterpress)

Push Posters

Gig Posters

Concert Posters on Etsy

Anyone have good resources for getting your hands on local and/or indie concert posters?

Comments (17)

matthew: i have that first poster. that was a great tour. i agree about having posters from shows you actually went to. it just seems more personal if you can say you were there.

@ponyinarope - I don't know if you know this, but there are less than 500 of those and they were hand-screened by Travis Morrison of the Dismemberment Plan (at least that was what he told me at the merch booth during the tour). You are right, that was one of the best shows I ever went to in my life.

matthew, i don't like it when people are elitist about only having posters from shows they went to...

makes you sound like all the music snobs from high-school

Some of us don't have the time to go to as many shows as they'd like anymore or live in a location that makes it very difficult. However they still love a certain band or an artist that creates the posters, or both.

I agree, aesthetic apparatus is great. Another source is the bungaloo out of st. louis.

http://www.thebungaloo.com/posters1.html

i think having great artwork supporting a band or a print artist you love is awesome. bands & artists get nowhere without support.

so what if you didn't go to that show. i don't need posters to prove what shows i've been to, & maybe i've never seen a band i love, but i can hang a poster because of how good that band is or what their music means to me. i haven't been able to afford shows for a couple years. should i just stop supporting the bands i've missed shows for?

and if one person walks into my place & sees that poster & so they pick up an album (or posters), they've supported an artist, helping them pay to get to a show or pay for another album, etc. (although of course some of the $ goes to booze & such, but whatever). essentially, things like this could be helping put $ in the pockets of bands you like.

now, buying a poster of a band you've never listened to or owned any of their music, that's not okay for me. you could likely commission an artist to make one for a band you do like, or go explore the bands tunes for a while first.

i LOVE superkonductor - brilliant! hooked into the chicago music scene.
<A HREF="http://superkonductor.com/posters.php">superkonductor.com</A>

Small Stakes = totally cute! I recognize lots of their work.

My friends Matt and Andrew have a company called Doublenaut here in Toronto. Here's a sampling of their work (admittedly more dude-oriented than Small Stakes):
http://www.doublenaut.com/work/posters/

My boyfriend and I have tons of them framed at our place. We also have one giant, valuable poster from a show neither of us attended...see bottom photo from this post:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/readers-rooms/displaying-musical-instruments-at-home-sarah-in-toronto-056970

It was a limited edition original print from a show in Japan, a gift from my boyfriend's sister, and he likes the band. I usually agree with the "snobbish" sentiment that you should attend the shows the posters advertise, and when you can, buy your band t-shirts at shows too...but I live with a concert promoter/musician in an urban area and realize that for lots of people, it's not always possible. The point is that you like the music and you're supporting the artist. If you just like the print or the artwork, you might want to give the artist a listen before you purchase it, or you may realize your poster is boldly displaying your love for a band you can't stand. If it's cute indie art you're after, you can always support similar anonymous artwork on Etsy.

for all of the music snobs out there, here is a great poster for you from the great screwball press.

http://www.threadless.com/print/1447/Music_Snob_Print

Hey,

We did that Tokyo Police Club poster! You can check out more of our work here: http://www.doublenaut.com or our shop http://shop.doublenaut.com

Thanks!

Andrew

Hi Andrew! I was just talking about you...

Wow. I finally checked back. I guess I opened up a wound on some folks. Mea Culpa.

I'm in love with tha cat power's poster