Gig Posters Worth Framing: The Art of the Screen-Printed Poster

Somewhere in a loft near you there's a gig poster rolled up in a tube, slowly going yellow. It deserves better. Gig posters are some of the most underrated art around: bold, cheap to make, made for one night only, and now collected and framed by fans all over the world.

Where it all started

The modern gig poster really took off in San Francisco in the mid-1960s. Artists like Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, and Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley made swirling, almost unreadable psychedelic posters for shows at the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom. Half the fun was working out who was actually playing.

Long before that, Nashville's Hatch Show Print had been cranking out letterpress posters since 1879, using wooden type and carved blocks for everyone from circus acts to country stars. It's still going today, and you can visit the shop.

Why screen prints are special

Most gig posters worth collecting today are screen-printed. Every colour is pulled by hand through a mesh screen, one layer at a time, so no two prints are quite the same. Runs are small, often just a hundred or two, and they're usually signed and numbered by the artist. That's a lot of craft for something that often costs less than the gig ticket.

Starting a collection

• Buy at the merch stand. Many touring bands commission a limited poster for each night of the tour. Once they're gone, they're gone.
• Follow the artists. Plenty of poster artists sell their prints online, and their releases sell out quickly.
• Go local. Independent venues and promoters often work with local printmakers, which makes for brilliant, affordable pieces.
• Keep the ticket stub. Framed together, the poster and the ticket tell the story of the night.

Framing it properly

Don't trim the edges, as collectors care about the margins. Use acid-free mounts and backing so the paper doesn't discolour, and spend a bit extra on UV-filtering glass if it's going anywhere near a window. Avoid sticky tape at all costs.

Get it right and that poster from the best night of your twenties becomes the best thing on your wall. And it's a far better conversation starter than a print from a big furniture shop.