User:Ukebloke/sandbox/Todd Slater

Todd Slater is an American poster artist who specializes in concert posters for indie and mainstream rock musicians. The many acts for whom he has produced posters include Jack White, Widespread Panic, Ween, Avett Brothers, Pearl Jam, Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Matthews, Black Keys, Primus, Muse and Neil Young. He also produces film posters for the specialist Mondo Gallery in Austin, Texas, USA.

A limited edition fine art print of Todd Slater’s Goldfinger Mondo film poster was sold at auction by Christie's in October 2013 for $3,294 US.

Personal life
Slater was born in July 1979 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. His father, Wayne Slater, is an author and has been a political writer for the Dallas Morning News since the mid-1980s; he has co-written three books with James Moore, including Bush's Brain. Todd Slater's mother is an English teacher. The Slater family moved to Austin, Texas, when Todd was five years-old. Slater is married to wife Kristie with whom he has three children.

Education
Todd Slater graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA, in 2002, majoring in art with an emphasis in design and minors in film and painting.

Slater learned about digital media and the craft of art making during an internship with Dave Turton at The Graphic Library, a producer of stock illustrations for Istockphoto.

Career
Slater realized that making concert posters was what he wanted to do after discovering gigposters.com. He started producing posters professionally aged 24.

Slater's first real gig poster commission was for Pretty Girls Make Graves. He started sending unsolicited White Stripes posters to the band’s tour manager and this led to him working with Rob Jones, who produced The White Stripes gig posters, and later collaborations between Jones and Slater on gig posters for Jack White and Dave Matthews.

Slater turned freelance in 2004.

Influences
Todd Slater has cited a number of artistic influences including:
 * 1966-68 Chicago art movement The Hairy Who
 * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (an influence on some of Slater’s imagery)
 * Figurative painters including Steven Assael, Lisa Yuskavage, Jenny Saville, John Currin and Peter Saul
 * Aesthetic Apparatus
 * Ames Bros.

Work
Much of Slater's work is for major alternative bands although he has produced tour posters for some established and mainstream artists too. Although not a core part of Slater's work he has expressed an interest in album cover art and produced six vinyl single sleeves for The Dead Weather in 2009.

Slater produces film posters for the Mondo Gallery which are marketed through their mondotees.com website and other outlets.

Stylistically Slater's gig poster designs tend to major on the imagery and minimize the amount and size of text. Most of his work is done on a computer with some elements done by hand. Each poster takes about 40 hours to produce.

Concert poster clients
Artists for whom Todd Slater has produced gig posters include: Artist web pages featuring Todd Slater’s work:
 * Arctic Monkeys
 * Muse
 * Primus

Film posters
Film posters Todd Slater has produced for Mondo (mondotees.com) include:

Galleries
The following galleries carry Todd Slater’s work:
 * The Flood Gallery, London, UK
 * Mondo Gallery, Austin, Texas, USA
 * Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, UK

Documentaries
The following documentaries feature Todd Slater and/or his work:
 * Died Young, Stayed Pretty / Dir: Eileen Yaghoobian / Norotomo Productions / 2008
 * Just Like Being There / Dir: Scout Shannon / Avalanche Films / 2012
 * Twenty-Four By Thirty-Six / Dir: Kevin Burke / Post No Joes Productions / (in production)