the
heads of state
a 2009 twelve month calendar
about the heads of state The Heads of State is made up of two designers, Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers, who, soon after graduating from the Tyler School of Art, were looking for something more than just their current day jobs when they decided to band together, making their own design and illustration firm. When first starting out, their gig posters were for lesser-known bands, but they quickly began to be commissioned for top touring bands including R.E.M. and Wilco. Like many designers, Kernevich and Summers are influenced by other designers, which can be seen in their own work, which they still manage to make their own. Although they are part of a current poster movement, they mention that the firm “would rather be grouped as a member of a movement of great design—a group of designers using found images, found type, texture, hand-
drawn items in reaction to the more glossy computerdriven design that has been prevalent since the first part of this decade.” Whether hand made shapes are being used or it’s photographically based, there is always a concept behind each piece. With each poster, the Heads have created a concept that is clear and simple. A reason why the firm is so successful is because the execution of a piece only goes as far as the concept requires, making sure that the final piece is never overworked or overstylized. Kernevich and Summers have a love for the medium of silkscreen printing which is easy to see with the rough edges and the interaction of the thick inks. What seems spontaneous close up becomes refined and composed when you take a step back and view the poster again.
“It’s hard to not be influenced by everything around you. It’s a matter of keeping your senses working during those times when the world decides to tell you a secret.”
This poster was created with an idea that was three years old; a stack of books. The idea had never quite fit anything, and was stored among other possible ideas in a sketchbook. After the band had asked Kernevich and Summers, the designers of Heads of State, to create a poster, they revisited the idea. “For some reason, it really says R.E.M. to me, sort of playing off the band’s long and strived career as a volume of text,” said Summers.
january
R.E.M. Manchester silkscreen 18” x 24”
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This poster is a good example of the possibilities of print making. The white used to create an image of a sheet was overprinted to allow for a some of the background image to show through. Both Summers and Kernevich share that they are still learning while they work and had to test out the technique from this poster beforehand since they were not certain it would work, which it thankfully did.
february
Rogue Wave silkscreen 18� x 24�
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Finding the right central image can be a challenge, and once one is found and making it work can be a challenge, too. “Just as every designer does, we tend to get into slumps. Designing and constructing this poster was a nice departure from the things we had been working on previously. An ungodly amount of time was spent with a copy machine and an X-Acto knife to collage the snakes, but it ended up being a bit of creative therapy, Kernevich and Summers share.
march
Les Savy Fav silkscreen 18� x 24�
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Two major characteristics of posters made by Heads of State is the use of texture and “mildly twisted illustration.” The texture in the background that was taken from origami paper “was used initially on a poster that was to be very stereotypical, domestic, and feminine—an intentionally ironic tone, considering the music,” Summers explains. For the illustration, “an old drawing from a children’s book inspired my to try something quirky and naive, but vicious.”
april
Cat Power Silkscreen 18” x 24”
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Because Heads of State work in the recording industry, they are often inspired by a band’s work. This poster got its imagery from the band’s song “A Modern Way of Letting Go.” The two explain, “The image is an exaggerated and metaphorical depiction of severing of a relationship using modern methods. To add to the visual humor and represent how childish even our most adult relationships can become, the image was executed with cut-up construction paper.”
may
Idlewild silkscreen 18” x 24”
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“The face that this show was held at Radio City Music Hall was the biggest inspiration... For the main image, I decided to turn to something that has always been in the back of my mind as a truly great visual: Francis Cugat’s 1924 painting for the cover of The Great Gatsby, published by Scribner. Combining a solemn Jazz Age tone with Art Deco typography was a great jumping-off point and an immediate decision. What took work was making a falling piano look quiet.”
june
Wilco NYC silkscreen 18” x 24”
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Summers shares that the final execution of this poster is “a super-simple poster. There was so much more to this, but we just took away and took away until it ended up being just the building and type. We tend to do that a lot, start off with too much going on and then whittle it down to only its more necessary parts. This started out as a very busy piece with the upside-down city—but in the sky there were clouds falling, airplanes, hot air balloons, basically just a ton of garbage that made the poster much too busy.”
july
Built To Spill silkscreen 18” x 24”
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For this poster, the partners focused on the event of Bright Eyes releasing two singles that debuted at #1 and #2 on the Billboard single chart, and that the band was about to simultaneously release two albums. Summers explains, “The image seemed so simple, but it came after a few hours of trying to figure how you could make two pieces of vinyl interesting enough to make a poster.”
Bright Eyes Philadelphia silkscreen 18” x 24”
august
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“After going through a few rounds of ideas, designing around eighteen different posters for this show and being totally worn out at midnight or so, Jason presents this image of the leaves that he had found but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I immediately saw the vine wrapping around the Washington Monument, and about forty-two minutes later the poster was done. That’s one of the most exciting things about working with another person, the Ping-Pong effect.”
september
Wilco Washington D.C. silkscreen 18” x 24”
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When explaining this poster, the two simple say that it is “completely based off a Califone song called ‘Don’t Let Me Die Nervous’.” Although the imagery does come from the song, the piece also shows that Kernevich and Summers have a love for the golden age of animation and comics. There are subtle changes in the halftone which creates both shading and light, which shows off the pair’s mastery of silkscreen printing.
october
Califone silkscreen 18” x 24”
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This poster for Hot Hot Heat was a turning point for Heads of State. “This was one of our earlier posters. It was done at a point when we relied a little too heavily on clip art and found imagery and hadn’t really explored drawing things ourselves. Where we would have tried to find a piece of art of imagery of a fire hydrant, we instead went down the street and took a picture. This was a crossing point into a more hand-done, rough-hewn style.”
november
Hot Hot Heat silkscreen 18” x 24”
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At time while looking at other’s work, Heads of State can find themselves inspired. Kernevich and Summers note, “This poster plays off of the Magnetic Fields library of love songs, maybe their darker side. We had been looking at a lot of wood cuts, block-printing, but we also drew inspiration from the work of Seripop and Yo Rodeo and their use of twisting up and interlocking bizarre forms.” Keeping one’s eyes open to other work is essential to become a designer.
december
Magnetic Fields silkscreen 18” x 24”
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13 14 15 16
20 21 22 23
27 28 29 30
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10 11 12
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november
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25 26
27 28 29
24/ 31
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july
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26 27 28 29
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30
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29 30 31
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10 11
9 8
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15 16 17 18
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7 10 11
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march
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october
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28 29 30
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june
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29 30 31
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february
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29 30 31
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september
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24/ 31
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may
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13 14 15 16
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10 11 12
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january april
august
a 2009 twelve month calendar december