Alum's posters prove popular

Students walking through the Student Union art gallery during the first few weeks of the fall semester have been treated to an installation that is a little different from standard art-show fare.

Promotional concert posters by UNC alumnus Casey Burns are providing a splash of silk-screened color to the space.

The idea to display Burns' posters originated from Maggie Kao, a 2005 UNC graduate who served as the chairwoman of the gallery committee during the 2004-05 school year.

Due to scheduling issues, the show could not be put together during Kao's tenure at the Union, but she passed the idea on to Susie Thompson, a senior art history and political science major, who worked with Burns to arrange the show.

The show was installed Aug. 31 and will run through the end of the month.

"We wanted to kick off the year with something visually and aesthetically appealing that was also accessible to all students," Thompson said.

Student response seems to indicate that Thompson's plan has been a success.

The word-of-mouth response to the show has been positive, she said, in part because students see some of their favorite bands on the posters and are enticed to take a closer look at the rest of the exhibit.

Burns, who designed and printed all the posters, began silk-screening - a process that takes approximately a week of work - while he was a UNC undergraduate.

He was able to combine a long-standing love of music and visual art while he worked at Cat's Cradle, creating posters such as the ones on display and serving as one of the club's managers.

The posters promote such musical acts as Sonic Youth, Superchunk and Lucinda Williams and feature an aesthetic derived both from the music of the band being promoted as well as from Burns' interest in comic book serials of the '40s, such as Will Eisner's "The Spirit."

Eisner is one of the fathers of the "graphic novel," and others that have been influenced by his work include Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, the co-directors of the 2005 hypernoir thriller "Sin City."

Though Burns' posters are not what some might consider traditional art, Thompson says, "It's important that people see the posters as artistic works that have artistic value."

Each poster - individually numbered and part of a limited series - is the end-result of a great deal of thought and effort.

The Union is hosting a meet- and-greet with Burns at 8 p.m. Thursday.

 

Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.