Post Mo’ Bills

Minneapolis – Friday June 20, 2014, 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. – opening night reception for Gamut Gallery’s “Post Mo’ Bills;” the exhibition runs through July 16. Gamut Gallery will be transformed into a graphic communications hub through the display of editioned screen prints by many of the Twin Cities’ finest poster designers.

Sometimes the easiest way to advertise a garage sale or a concert is to staple flyers to telephone poles. But in many U.S. cities, it is illegal to post handbills on public or private property. These local ordinances are similar to anti-graffiti laws. Wheat pasting posters is considered vandalism. Property owners complain that flyers look “messy.” And yet, our visual landscape is already cluttered with corporate advertisements on billboards and bus shelters. If grassroots flyering is forbidden by law, how is someone supposed to find their lost cat? How should political activists communicate their messages supporting social change? Where is the place for artists’ expression in the public space?

From the psychedelic animal art of Chuck U, to the politically-charged prints of alternative arts veteran Ruthann Godollei, “Post Mo’ Bills” is a feast for the eyes. The interior of the gallery will feel urban, with a wall designed to resemble the multiple layers of overlapping handbills and postcards found on outdoor notice boards. Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to add their own messages to the existing flyers on the bulletin board. This will be a participatory exhibit, one that challenges civil authorities warnings to “post no bills.”

Artists Featured: Burlesque of North America, TOOTH, Ruthann Godollei, Chuck U, WUNDR, Andrew Gramm, Biafra Inc., Boxy Mouse, Emily Janning, Erik Farseth, Gilpin Matthews, Heather Wayne, Jonas Criscoe, Lauren Schuppe, Maura K. Williams, Pseudo Manitou, Jon Reese, Lizardman, The Abstracted