Nordling here.
Tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, there will be a special screening of john Carpenter's THEY LIVE, hosted by Shepard Fairey. You may not know who he is, but you certainly know his work:
John Carpenter's film holds a special place with Fairey, as an inspiration for his art, and plus it's just a great film all around. Tonight's screening is sadly sold out, but Shepard Fairey worked with Mondo Tees to create a unique poster for the film and tonight's screening. But here's Mondo, and John Carpenter himself, to tell you all about it:
Greetings,
We have some very special treats courtesy of legendary director John Carpenter and famed street artist Shepard Fairey to celebrate the Alamo Drafthouse & Mondo event for THEY LIVE.
John Carpenter shot a video for the Alamo Drafthouse, where he takes a moment to reflect on THEY LIVE and its prescience with regard to a media-saturated culture. He also "unveils" Shepard Fairey's Mondo artwork for THEY LIVE!
Watch John Carpenter's video here:
Additionally, JOHN CARPENTER'S THE WARD is now available on VOD and will be in theatres July 8, 2011. View the trailer here --
The screening for THEY LIVE takes place tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse with Shepard Fairey live in attendance. This is a real treat for Alamo & Mondo fans -- the first time they've ever worked with the world famous artist.
The poster will be available at the screening and a limited amount of posters will be available for sale on Friday (6/10) at MondoTees.com. Follow @MondoNews on Twitter for more details. Check out an attached "in progress" shot of Shepard's THEY LIVE artwork.
Shepard Fairey, responsible for the iconic "Obey" street art (attached) and the "Hope" Obama poster, wrote in 2003 about the inspiration the film THEY LIVE had on his art --
"The This is Your God show in 2003 at the Six Space gallery in downtown L.A. was an opportunity to showcase the sociopolitical message of the OBey campaign by paying homage to John Carpenter's They Live, which was a major source of inspiration and the basis for my use of the word "obey." The movie has a very strong message about the power of commercialism and the way that people are manipulated by advertising. One of my main concepts with the show (and the campaign as a whole) was that obedience is the most valuable currency. People rarely consider how much power they sacrifice by blindly following a self-serving corporation's marketing agenda, and how their spending habits reflect the direction in which they choose to transfer power. In They Live, the protagonist discovers hidden messages lurking behind billboards and anything commercial, and the money says "THIS IS YOUR GOD" on plain white paper. I designed a graphic that looked somewhat like real money but with that slogan, which we used for the invitations and a billboard I rented on the corner of Sunset and Hollywood to promote the show."
And here's a sneak of the poster, which will be released tonight, 6:00 Pacific Time - that's 8:00 PM for you Austinites:
Nordling, out.
