Grey Matter Art Ready to Make Its Mark in the Pop Art World
Over the past few years, the world of alternative, screen printed film prints has exploded. Drawing from, and being inspired by, long-established gig poster art created for music events, Mondo began creating prints designed to commemorate special film screenings for attendees. As any fan knows, Mondo has since exploded in popularity -- releasing and selling out hundreds of prints a year online and through its gallery in Austin.
While Gallery 88 began before Mondo, and plenty of galleries and companies have come since, the existence of all of these pop art outlets demonstrate the demand for this type of work is palpable. It also should be noted that none of these entities are exactly alike, as each has its own unique spin on how things are done. They all provide an outlet for new talent and have different creative decision makers pushing to craft unique styles of art.
It's with that in mind, that A2P is proud to join in the announcement of the launch of Grey Matter Art -- an online print house aiming to bring its own creative style to the world of Gig and Film art. Based in New York, Grey Matter not only plans to release prints online, but also hopes to do live events to go along with some of its online releases. Co-Found Michael Gregory had this to say about the company: "We aim to take an industry inspired by pop culture, and reinvent it using the techniques that other companies have made successful, but take them to a new level. Our goal here is to bring our unique brand of creativity to the marketplace for collector’s items such as licensed posters, apparel, and other great merchandise. We are currently working with some very talented artists that are doing some amazing things."
When we asked Michael what makes Grey Matter different he responded by saying: "I think what makes us different is that being true fans of gig and film posters we really take it from a fans perspective. We go at each project as collectors and what we would like to see made, and by who. I know it sounds kind of simple, but it’s true. Now there is obviously a lot more to it than that -- we need to acquire licenses, artist interest, availability. There is a lot that goes into making these posters, but it is really fun!"
Grey Matter hopes to have 1 to 2 releases per month, and the first one is a beauty. Being released this April, Grey Matter commissioned Randy Ortiz to tackle "Cannibal Holocaust." Randy has this to say about the project:
“I was a somewhat strange kid growing up. I had a morbid curiosity and was incredibly fascinated with the world of underground pseudo snuff cinema. I always kept this to myself and never shared the fact I had bootleg VHS tapes of classics such as Flowers of Flesh and Blood, the Faces of Death series, and Men Behind the Sun. Looking back at these films as an adult, one could argue the disgusting brutal nature of these films in comparison to Cannibal Holocaust are far and beyond, but for some reason it doesn’t feel that way to me. Even after all these years, I still find Cannibal Holocaust to be very unsettling to watch. The incredibly offensive and controversial scenes drape over a powerful message about what we perceive as ‘reality’ in the media and that we should seek truth farther beyond what is presented to us. I feel that message is still important to this day. A film crew fabricating a village slaughter who end up paying the ultimate price is something I wanted to capture in my poster as opposed to doing a rendition of the straight forward “impaled girl” that the film is most known for. I feel going this route pays tribute to the more underlying story Ruggero Deodato wanted to convey to his audience. It’s a crazy film that is definitely not for the majority, but it still is one of the few films out there that has left a lasting, scarring impression on me!"
You can read more about the company right here. We wish nothing but the best to Grey Matter, and hope to see them do great things. They are certainly starting things off on the right foot!
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