Events > Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82

Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82 is the first New York exhibition surveying the extraordinary diversity of Punk and Post-Punk graphic design. The exhibition showcases a wide range of American and British artistry, with influences that include the Bauhaus, Futurism, Dadaism, Pop Art, Constructivism and Expressionism. The exhibition features over 200 rare posters, along with fanzines, flyers, clothing, badges and stickers.

Rude and Reckless documents an era that produced a great burst of applied graphic-design creativity, one of the most subversive of the 20th Century. Vivid, violent and frequently acid tongued, the works in Rude and Reckless represent one of the truly authentic DIY youth culture movements of the Western World.

The exhibition is timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of Punk Rock; both the release of the first Ramones album, and the mythical (and notorious) Anarchy in the UK Tour were seminal punk events in 1976. The exhibition is based on the collection Andrew Krivine, who began collecting in 1977. Curated by Krivine and Steven Kasher, the selection comprises the rarest and finest examples culled from an archive of more than 800 punk/new wave/post-punk posters and ephemera.

Beyond the "Holy Trinity" of Punk Rock (Ramones, Clash, Sex Pistols), Rude and Reckless includes materials covering over 70 Punk, New Wave, Post-Punk and No Wave performers. The collection on display constitutes a comprehensive A to Z of both iconic and obscure groups, including: A Certain Ratio, the Adverts, Alternative TV, the B52s, Bauhaus, Blondie, the Buzzcocks, Chrome, the Circle Jerks, the Cramps, the Cure, the Damned, Devo, Eater, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Elvis Costello, the Fall, Fear, Fire Engines, the Flying Lizards, Gang of Four, GBH, Generation X, Gun Club, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Iggy Pop, the Jam, Jim Carroll Band, Johnny Thunders, Joy Division, Killing Joke, Kraftwerk, Lou Reed, the Lurkers, Malcolm McLaren, the Misfits, New Order, Nick Lowe, Nina Hagen, the Only Ones, 999, Patti Smith, Penetration, PIL, the Police, the Pop Group, the Pork Dukes, Pylon, the Rings, Sham 69, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Snakefinger, the Slits, the Stranglers, Suicide, Talking Heads, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Television, Wayne County, X-Ray Spex and XTC.

The exhibition includes designs from the most illustrious graphic artists of the period, such as Peter Saville, Malcolm Garrett, Barney Bubbles, Gee Vaucher, Linder Sterling, Keith Haring, Robert Williams, and, of course, Jamie Reid. On the other hand, several bands (some fronted by art-school dropouts) designed their own graphics.

Factory Records-related posters and album cover are reproduced here, with special thanks to Christiona at the Steven Kasher Gallery.

Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82 runs from 21 July to 19 August 2011.

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 W. 23rd St
New York
NY 10011

Summer gallery hours are Mon-Fri, 11 am to 6 pm.

Anonymous: A Certain Ratio, Do the Du EP, 1981 [Courtesy of Steven Kasher Gallery]