to have a talk about poster art and music. This
Radical Collection: The Art of Rock
meeting would be similar to the several times I visited the Komins from August to October.
I arrive at Ben
A lthough Komins
would describe his colception; filled with well
lecting as a cool thing
Kommins house in Half
used gear. Ben, with his
to do, I think he is col-
Moon Bay at 4:30 in the
(almost falling apart)
lecting and accumulat-
afternoon. Once inside,
purple Art Of Rock book
ing posters to preserve
I’m greeted warmly by
and purple crocs, Komins them and the memories
Ben and the Komins’
fits right in. We walk
that they hold. Memo-
dogs, Marshmallow (the
down his back porch,
ries as a younger man
brown one) and Rebel
past the empty hot tub,
when Ben would go out
(the old one). Ben’s wife,
the full shut barn, to sit
to concerts for a couple
Sheran, is busy prepar-
on a pair of couches that
dollars a ticket. He tells
ing to take their daughter are placed under an un-
me himself that he got
Katherine to soccer prac- covered shade covering
taken back to “The Grate-
tice in her blue Doctor Who socks with a pattern of a TARDIS on them. I’m lead through the house, and although only a few posters are framed on the walls, The Komins’ house is almost a visual overload, from statuettes of jazz band performers to the classical mountain art of Rebecca Holland. The back yard is no ex-
ful Dead at Penn State in 1980. They were playing in the gym” when he listened to one of his old recordings. The things that Ben collects allow him to relive his past in a way nothing else could. Similar to the comic books he has in his barn that are only worth a few dollars each but still worth the
rage, where his other col-
storage.
lectables are kept, rang-
Ben Komins is a
ing from a 48 star flag
collector, broadly a col-
to a cardboard cutout
lector of Americana, (artifacts relating to the cultural heritage of the United States) and in particular, rock posters dating back to the 60’s. He tells me that there are very few private collectors who have such a massive selection of posters. His collection has taken up two buildings on his property: A barn, which houses his posters and record albums, as well as some of his clothes, hats, and other items, and the ga-
of Justin Bieber that he
“
From a 48 star flag to a cardboard cutout of Justin Bieber
”
got for his daughter. In his barn, he has literally thousands of records lining the walls and record album art lining the ceiling. In his garage, tens of thousands of thin posters rolled into each other to save space.
Ever since he
moved to Half Moon Bay with his family, his idea of what he wanted to do with his collection changed. Supporting his family has been his
main priority over the past
today. When Ben moved out
decade and a half, and when
to San Francisco in the mid
his daughter was born he sold
1980s, he was exposed to more
parts of his collection to pay
art rock, where his collect-
bills so he could stay home and
ing career was inspired by his
raise her.
co-worker showing him his
collection of Fillmore post-
Born in Philadelphia,
one memory that stays with
ers. He described to me the
him was when he found his
only way to look at posters
first piece of art rock he ever
rolled up like that was to un-
kept, a flyer for a benefit con-
ravel them one at a time and
cert with a college of William
then put them to the side. Ben
Penn and “a hippie chick”,
doesn’t favour this method of
which he still has in a frame
storage, not only because it’s
hard to keep the posters in good
without having to put much ef-
shape, but it also deteriorates the
fort into it.
posters if you must keep raveling
and unraveling them. His more
which verges on hoarding, is al-
valuable posters he keeps in port-
most destructive. His wife’s opin-
folios, which is common among
ion on his collection is, “It’s time
serious collectors. The large fold-
to liquidate”. I’m not sure if Ben
ers specifically designed for art
feels the same way, but I think
work, allow Ben to look through
it’s safe to assume that he has
the posters and store them safely
invested so much into his collec-
tion, he feels sad that it’s slowly
the big rolls in his garage. When
disappearing. Once, my father,
he went to show them to me, a
who used to put posters up in
box of old Star Trek VHS tapes
San Francisco, threw away extra
were partially blocking the door.
posters that he had not put up.
He said he normally wouldn’t
when Ben found out, he told my
have bought them but he took
father to never throw out extra
them because they were free.
posters ever again and instead to
give them to him to keep. Ben still
have slightly different ideas of
has those thousands of posters in
what they want to happen to the
This habit of collecting,
Ben and Sheran seem to
posters. Sheran wants them all sold as soon as possible, whereas Ben seems to want to keep a large part of his collection until they need to be sold. I’m sure he would much prefer to keep everything as long as reason allows. As he tells me, “They can’t bury me with all my stuff ”. Until now, Ben has sold mostly his less valuable collectables, such as old Macintosh computer advert posters and worn post-
ers that he would rather have a cleaner version of. Komins’ dilemma appears to be there simply just isn’t enough room for everything he wants.
No matter what, I strongly believe that
what Ben is keeping will live long beyond his time, considering that there are entire societies dedicated to rock and roll poster art based from San Francisco. Everyone finds meaning in something, and Ben found his in art rock.
Bibliography: “ArtRock.” ArtRock. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. Komins, Ben. Personal interview. 1 Sept. 2013. 11 Sept. 2013. 30 Sept. 2013 Komins, Sheran. Personal interview. 25 Sept. 2013 “TRPS, The Rock Poster Society.” The Rock Poster Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.