A Permanent Archive of Worldwide Punk Art and Fanzines
To present a 30+ year overview of punk arts by emphasizing punk rock’s grass roots, hands-on aesthetic innovations, deeply participatory and inclusive process, and challenge of social, political and cultural conventions. This archive stresses the vivid importance of punk’s international, cross-cultural appeal, and not only highlights the not-to-be-forgotten contributions of local Oregon artists and bands (since it is located in Oregon) but also includes a range of artists, writers, and musicians from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It is not designed specifically for just the punk and folklore community but also for people interested in: pop and counter-culture; visionary/outsider art, fine art, and graphic design; music history and journalism; sociology and media, and much more.
Photo below is of Trenchmouth (of Chicago), 1990, in Rockford, IL. The drummer, Fred Armisen, is a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live.
By digitizing thousands of pieces of handbills/posters, creating an extensive index, designing a user-friendly web page, opening the archive to the public, storing work safely, ensuring accessibility at all levels, and helping to curate and sponsor shows that may utilize the work, the center hopes to preserve, maintain, and explore this work for future generations of researchers. In the tradition of handmade, self-taught, Do-It-Yourself culture, which is part and parcel of the vernacular and folk art traditions, the archive will focus on obtaining artists mock-ups of both flyers but also records, promotional items like T-shirts, videos, and fanzines too. In addition, it will contain first generation “original” presses and high-quality copies and facsimiles, ranging from major artists like Raymond Pettibon (whose work is now in museums), Randy “Biscuit” Turner, and Shawn Kerri to numerous anonymous artists whose instant, disposable, Xerox art might otherwise be neglected in the “dustbins of history.” Continue reading
The Center for Punk Arts 