BRAG AT FlATSTOCK POSTER CONVENTION SXSW AUSTIN - TEXAS - MARCH 17-20th

During March Austin in Texas transforms into a sprawling spree of bars and venues packed full of music, art and culture. I've been told Austin boasts over 400 venues and is a cultural hub within Texas. Over the past decade the city is growing with popularity with more people migrating to this hot bed of activity.

SXSW is a music, film and interactive festival with hundreds of events packed into two weeks. People from all over the world travel here and Americans say there is nothing quite like it in the country. The weather was like peak British Summer time with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. We made a special group collective poster for the show with each artists designing a body part, creating this mad creature.

Flatstock is a gig poster event that is in conjunction with major music festivals. Austin's SXSW was its first host and now there is NXNW Flatstock in Seattle, another in Chicago and Flatstock Europe in Germany that happen annually. Over 80 artists took part in this years show that was held in the Convention Center, the heart of the festival. It was started by the API (American Poster Institute) in 2002 and came from conversations from artists and collectors on a site called gigposters.com. This site has grown to a massive size and is THE place for gig posters!

I was overwhelmed with the high level of design and the amount of posters and prints on display. It was an incredible experience and a great chance to meet artists from all around the globe. Being sponsored by British Underground and UKTI is a great leap for the UK gig poster scene and shows a recognition for what we're doing here.

With 6 other UK poster artists we formed the UK PA (UK Poster Association) and had one of the biggest booths at the show. Luke Drozd, Chris White (Poster Roast, We Three Club) Bobby from Telegramme Studio, Glyn Smyth (Scrawled) Army of Cats.

A big thank you to our sponsors for making this happen. I brought back over 100 prints and posters for the Octopus Gallery and will be doing a mini Flatstock show in the gallery in June and July.

article written by Rhys Wootton