Ian Teeple’s punk flyers look like they’ve been dragged through a photocopier and a mosh pit

The musical acts that American musician, visual artist and graphic designer Ian Teeple makes promotional materials for have a big act to follow – the big act is the poster itself. Raised in the midwest American punk scene, Ian’s art practice grew out of flyer making and promotion for his own bands Warm Bodies and Silicone Prairie, which helped him forge relationships with artists he admired.

“In my art (and music) I like to focus on the human form and my life around me, most depictions are about situations I’ve been in or things that bother or scare me,” says Ian. “I like dream logic and automatic techniques of creation, I use (misuse) mostly low brow techniques to create images.” Drawn in ink, oil pastels, crayons and airbrush paint then photocopied and “mangled” through collage that is bounced between digital and printed compositions, it goes without saying that the process of creating such punky flyers is as fun as looking at it. Every bit of labour is on the page. More than posters, Ian’s work are characters that are raging, childish and undeniably spiky. One wonders, is this an invitation to a gig or to another realm?

Ian’s flyers capture the zany “egg-punk” of Snooper, the explosive post-punk of Dry Cleaning and capture the unleashed in-your-face spirit of Bikini Kill, and this is no doubt thanks to their appreciation for these bands, as well as artists such as Francis Bacon (evident in Ian’s depiction of exploded faces) and Mike Kelley, the punkiest of them all. Funnily enough, the biggest inspiration for Ian was moving to Australia, confirming all rumours that the ‘down under’ really does bring out our most endearing roughness.