Re-interpret and rock (and roll)

October 2, 2012 1:36 PM

I'm a huge fan of science fiction book cover art (especially the 50s through the 80s) and I like to use ideas from them to make posters for my band. If you need examples: this should explain what I'm looking for. I'm wondering if there are existing resources for science fiction cover art or general science fiction art that mirrors this sort of style and substance? I especially need resources that are fair use, free to modify etc. etc. We use these posters to advertise our shows at places which usually have a cover charge -- so I will need content that I can modify to use "commercially".

Bonus questions:

. Does anyone know artists or painters in the Boston / Cambridge area good at meddling in this genre?

. I'm also a HUGE fan of propaganda and "war time" art from the early twentieth century. If you know of resources that skew that way, I certainly wouldn't mind.

posted by mysticreferee to society & culture (4 answers total)

At a glance, I suspect several of those are by Richard M. Powers, who took a lot of inspiration from Yves Tanguy. The latter's name/style is likely more familiar to folks with a fine arts background, so finding a Tanguy fan might be another start point. You might also look into the copyright status or licensing of Tanguy reproductions, regarding which I have no guess.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 1:59 PM on October 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Philip K Dick covers
posted by TheRaven at 2:24 PM on October 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Since copyright is the big hurdle here (for 50s to 80s anyway), I thought I'd suggest a slightly different direction - old space-program concept art.
A lot of it has that same look and feel (though more grounded in reality), and I would think the chances are far greater that it it's publicly funded and might fall under the free to use licenses of much of what NASA produces.
posted by anonymisc at 4:44 PM on October 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

I just found something that perfectly fits my requirement:
Vintage Printable. "Bringing Public Domain to the Public"? Hell yeah.

Thanks for all your suggestions too! I really appreciate them.
posted by mysticreferee at 5:17 PM on November 11, 2012