Pinball wizard strain6/7/2023 ![]() Advertising Posters was a graphic design company that produced artworks for pinball machine manufacturers Bally and Williams. Though both released in 1970, Marche’s artwork is stylish, modern, and energetic, making Stenholm’s work seem subdued and old fashioned by comparison.Īrthur “Art” Stenholm began working as commercial artist for Advertising Posters in March of 1964 with artists Roy Parker and George Molentin. These 2 backglasses illustrate just how striking the Contemporary Style was in comparison to the prevailing pinball art of the time. Here, artists could create scenes that defied gravity, physics, and anatomy to attract the attention of potential players. ![]() Broken down to the simplest elements, the work suggested movement through distorted perspective fully outside the boundaries of realism. The Contemporary Style captured energy and motion like no pinball art before it. With roots in Cubism, Futurism, and even International Style architecture, Kelley and Marche discarded ornament and detail, distilling their subjects down to straight lines, simple curves, and geometric blocks of color. Decidedly modern, this cut-paper style expanded the vocabulary available to pinball artists, marking a new chapter in how they reached players.Īngular, geometric abstraction factored heavily in the Contemporary Style, bringing avant garde influence to popular culture. In a departure from the comic book and pin-up style illustrations popular in pinball art of the 1940’s and 50’s, Kelley (and later Marche), would develop a style full of flattened, exaggerated forms. Since Christian Marche was encouraged to emulate Kelly’s visual style, we can consider them both working within the same framework for their pointy people art. Jerry Kelley used the term Contemporary Style when discussing his work for Bally and Williams, and many credit him with moving pinball styling forward from the Pop Art look.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |