"… a kick-ass show of visual rock 'n' roll…"
	(Greg 'Craola' Simkins | Juxtapoz | December 21, 2009)
In 2009 long-time rock art collector Günther Dobrauz-Saldapenna and entrepreneur Jöne Mantel teamed up to host the Röckaholics Rock Poster Art Shows. Through these they wish to promote this art form in Europe and to also provide collectors and fans with a unique opportunity to meet the artists and see their much sought after rock posters and art prints including those long sold out as well as original inks and drawings from private collections usually not available to the public. For each show a signed and numbered limited edition poster is created by one or jointly by some of rock art's finest protagonists.
"… putting the heavy into metal…"
	(Jeral Tidwell)
Each show also sees the release of a very limited edition series of art printed on aluminum. These prints are created by the artists together with master printer Albert Mantel using a proprietary technology by Swiss-based Heinrich Mantel AG which allows anodizing the image into the aluminum itself.
"Express yourself and damn the consequences"
	(Michael des Barres | September 10, 2010)
	No matter how one classifies rock poster art - lowbrow, decorative pop, underground, countercultural or irreverently iconic - if done well it visualizes the music it promotes and captures the spirit of its time and through this the hearts of those who love to rock out to the sound of electric guitars and to bang their heads to the rhythm of a drum.
"At the least, my posters are an obvious advertisement for a rock gig, and in the middling, they are a curious proclamation pasted to a wall telling those in the know where to go for the show. At the most intimate, the best posters, rather, the ones that mean the most to the poster lover, or rather, the ones that are at the heart of a poster creator like myself, take an element of the music, a piece of its heart and drag it out , flay it open and lay it out like a science class frog dissection, but cuter. For me, a poster is meant to get to the heart of the matter and lay it out and present it with respect and insight and just the right touch of love. Punk rock, funk rock, hard, soft, hippy, slippy, fast or slow, High on Fire or Low, every taste and flavor of music has a fan to cater to and a heart to dissect. Or maybe they are just pretty pictures. But I try to make them the prettiest that I can."
	(Guy Burwell | March 31, 2010)
"Rock Poster Art is a world-wide phenomenon which arose out of a beautiful moment in the history of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury when anything was possible. At the onset of the present movement stood artists Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Victor Moscoso opening the doors of perception. Chet Helms - the promoter of the music cooperative called The Family Dog - had commissioned these artists with their first poster jobs - had handed these artists the key. Now with the door flung wide open, artists from all over America and the World are practicing the commandments of a tradition that was originally inspired by the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec during the Belle Epoque in France and practiced by the artists of the Vienna Secession in Austria. As poster artists we are part of a long tradition, a continuum of art which has a purpose on the street while at the same time reaches for a personal expression and is shaped by the spirit of our time. "
	(Chuck Sperry | May 26, 2010)
"At their best, posters can be a permanent reminder of a specific show, a band, the way your hair stood on end when the drummer rolled into your favorite song. When a postermaker correctly interprets the sound of a band and connects it with ink on paper, the poster as object becomes a tangible way to focus one's memories of a favorite concert. Putting the poster onto metal takes this permanence one step further..."
	(Jay Ryan | June 2, 2010)
"For me, rock posters are simply an advertisement but with a twist. You see, at their most basic level, rock posters are made to tape in music shop windows, staple to a pole, or even just be handed out on the street... nothing special. On the other hand, these are handmade, visual representation of the music, the feeling, and the soul of what the band is trying to get across filtered through the mind of a visual artist and fan... That is what makes them so important for me. The idea that I can share my feelings about the way the music affects me with the band and their fans is an amazing opportunity. I also think it is a great way for the bands to see what their music is saying to the fans... it is a beautiful exchange of thoughts traded through music and art."
	(Jeral Tidwell | July 6, 2010)
"While I might be approaching my linework with detailed fervor, it's rare that I'm delivering some sort of specific message about it. I make things I like to look at. I don't sit down and approach something with the mindset of 'I'm going to start this with a nod to the subtle nuances of the art nouveau movement and add a dash of the monsters that hide in a child's closet.' I love rock posters. It's often really amazing to watch someone grow as an artist through their portfolio and see when someone pulls something really new and fresh out of such a minimal and restricted medium."
	(Justin 'Angryblue' Kamerer | July 6, 2010)
"For the most part making rock posters is a way for me to express my visions that I see when I listen to a band. Over the Years I have tried to keep it fresh by keeping the style changing, just like the music."
	(Lindsey Kuhn | August 10, 2010)
"As a humble musician i can tell that there is nothing more welcoming than a cool poster hanging on a wall when rolling into to a foreign town. It makes you feel comfortable no matter if only 10 people turn up to the show. As a graphic artist i take great pleasure in extracting something out of the music and cooking it down on a piece of paper. It doesn't only serve as an announcement for the event but also as a trigger for memory and hence the legacy of a great subculture. Poster and cover artwork introduced me into the world of heavy rock music and made me curious and eager to make my own contribution. It's always an enrichening experience to meet fellow like-minded artists and to celebrate our madness."
	(Philipp Thöni / BlackYard | September 24, 2010)
"I got into music - punk rock mainly, when I was quite young , about 13, back then in the late seventies the imagery that came with the music was so new, exciting, raw, untamed even...it seemed un-predictable and ungovernable. I loved especially the cut and paste thing - just photos chopped up seemingly in a random way, then layered up to give a new meaning. To me it meant you could create art immediately - which at any time of life is very appealing... When I got into the gig poster scene - it was again this cut and paste kind of thing that really caught my eye - Mike King and Rob Jones's work and the Firehouse dudes really inspired me to start up - they had that same feeling that I got back in the day when I saw those first punk 45 sleeves. Most of my work now is cut and paste ups - I call the girls in my work my "Frankenstein ladies" as they are usually made up from around 10 different photos of women - all chopped and sewn lovingly back together to meet the brief of that poster."
	(Chris Hopewell | September 15, 2010)
"Rock Poster Art is contemporary, and has been done by some of the most famous and soon to be famous artists of our time. It is important, and should be respected as 'POP' Art."
	(Eerie Von | former bassist of Samhain and Danzig, creator of the fiend art paintings | April 9, 2010)
"Rock poster art has been an important reflection of American culture for the last 50 years, and I feel that it has often been under-represented in discussion of 'relevant art movements' in America. This is why I chose to make American Artifact, and the response to the film has been overwhelming. I'm honored to have it screen at the Röckaholics II show in Zurich, and hope to bring a better understanding of the history of the art form and the artists behind it, to Switzerland"
	(Merle Becker | director, American Artifact | May 20, 2010)
Click here for more information on the history of rock poster art by Paul Grushkin, famed author of the seminal books »The Art of Rock: Posters from Presley to Punk« and »Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion« which might be considered the old and the new testament of rock poster art.

Röckaholics I 2010-20-02 Zurich (CH)

Röckaholics II 2010-02-10 Zurich (CH)

© Dobrauz-Saldapenna