Kings of Leon Poster New Jersey 2017

KINGS OF LEON POSTER 2017 HOLMDEL, NEW JERSEY

JUST SOME GOOD OLD BOYS…

This poster for Kings of Leon was one of the first pieces I created for their 2017 summer tour in collaboration with Nakatomi Inc.. The print is a 12 by 18 inch, three color screenprint inspired by the wild, rubber-burning energy of 1970s good-old-boy car flicks. I was deep into a run of classic Burt Reynolds films like Hooper, Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy, and Grand Theft Auto. I was also revisiting drive-in exploitation movies like The Van, which helped shape the tone, palette, and overall attitude of the artwork.

A Van, a Chase, and a Whole Lot of Chaos

I wanted the piece to feel like a lost one-sheet from a regional New Jersey drive-in. Police cruisers skid across the highway. A helicopter swings overhead. A bridge goes up in flames. At the center of it all, a custom muscle van barrels through frame with smoke coming off the tires. Every element is exaggerated just enough to capture the mix of action and playful chaos that defined the era.

The Cherry Motif and the Cherry 4 Ever Van

Throughout the 2017 tour the band asked artists to incorporate cherries into their artwork wherever possible. Instead of placing cherries into the composition as decoration, I embedded the motif into the core idea. The van itself is marked Cherry 4 Ever, a nod to the high-school-roadtrip humor of Porky’s and a partial homage to the Straight Arrow van from The Van. It became the perfect vehicle for the poster in more ways than one.