I did go to “Off the Wall” yesterday to check out their posters. They’re on Haight Street in SF, and have a reputation of stocking the most recent posters by the best artist. I saw a lot of great Emek and Rogers prints, along with others. No Kozic though. The prices were reasonable as well. I scoured and purchased a Chuck Sperry for $15. The salesman was a bit of a prick when I asked for a cardboard tube though. He wanted to charge me $2, I told him I was surprised, and that “Artrock” doesn’t charge for tubes. He says “we’re not Artrock.”

No shit.

They also do framing there, but it doesn’t seem to be archival quality. A customer was asking the guy if one “had to get these framed. Couldn’t I just tack them to the wall?” I almost went up and punched the guy in the throat. As my wife, an artist and archval framer, says “If you’re spending the money on a piece of art, don’t you want to preserve it for a long time?” It’s an investment, right? I want her to go to Artrock and get them to work out a deal so she can frame in their space.

The Sperry piece I purchased is a poster for a book release show, if I remember correctly (it’s at home and I just got it). you’ll recognize it though as the cover of a Jello Biafra CD from last year. the CD only has Osama on it. As you can see, the poster shows him along with that other wacky clown, GW. The piece I posted is not the exact one I bought, the text is differnt.

I checked out the Firehouse website, and was displeased to find so few posters to gave at in their gallery. I had to search around a bit to find something similar to what I bought to post here. Also, they scan their posters to look like they’ve been ages in an old west style. I understand copyright protection, but this did not make me want to order from their site.

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