Dan MacAdam

Dan MacAdam: Sonic Youth poster

Posters & Packaging: Dan MacAdam’s Industrial Archetypes

Operating his printing and design practice under the name Crosshair, Dan MacAdam has taken a unique approach to poster art while working with the screen-printing medium for more than 15 years.

His recent work fully integrates the text — which is generally minimal — into the visual context of the image instead of displaying the text and image as two separate entities. Thus the image as a whole appears natural and undisturbed as it provides information to the viewer. In essence, instead of reading, the audience is viewing and absorbing the design.

Dan MacAdam: Wilco concert poster
Dan MacAdam: Wilco concert poster
Justin Santora / The Black Keys

Poster Art: Justin Santora’s “constructions”

Poster Art is a weekly column about today’s independent poster art and the artists who create it.

Based in the Chicagoland area, Justin Santora is an illustrator whose work focuses primarily on the themes of construction and disassembly, as well as “the pursuit for security and the desire for autonomy.” His perspective stems from the concept and process of “constructing something from the ground up” and an ongoing interest in subcultures.

Many of Santora’s illustrations focus on the reoccurring motifs of unfinished buildings, houses, and general architectural structure, while other poster designs simply hint at his love for animals. His pieces often include imagery of abandoned spaces and empty rooms that produce a sense of isolation, as well as despondence within human relations.  Additionally, his more recent works include a strong presence of light, shadows, and translucent, haunting human figures.
 

Justin Santora: "We Are a Collection of Screaming Jackasses"
Justin Santora: "We Are a Collection of Screaming Jackasses"