June 23rd, 2015
Hello!  Summer is here, and I've been spending a lot of time at the studio making new things.  Mike Gordon of Phish recently played a show in Buffalo, NY and I did the poster (to the left).  For this poster, I tried printing with a totally different kind of ink.  I was really pleased with the results, and I think I'm going to be switching brands.  The color is much denser, and it was a lot easier to get the transparent colors to do what I wanted them to do.  In person, the black is slick and glossy looking.  Pretty rad.
I also had the great pleasure of working on a poster for Ben Folds' benefit concert last month for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
I was contacted by a violin workshop here in Chicago to make a promotional poster.  I worked quite a bit larger than I normally do, doing various illustrations based on snapshots I took while visiting the workshop.
All three new prints will be available today, June 23rd at 1 PM CST. Check them out in the store at www.justinsantora.com.

Chicago arts nonprofit IPaintMyMind will be hosting WAYWARD, an exhibition of my recent screen printed work.  It will feature recent art prints, posters, and even a few original drawings.  It will also be here that we debut a few brand new prints, including a special release just for this show.
We are still in the early stages of promoting the show, but here is some basic information: Opening reception at IPainMyMind Gallery @ Green Exchange 2545 W. Diversey ave. Chicago, IL on July 23rd, 2015.  If you're on facebook, here's an event invitation.  More information and previews to come!

May 7th, 2015
While it's great working with bands and galleries, sometimes you just have to change things up a bit.  It has been my pleasure to have recently done some illustration work for the internet's favorite cat, Lil Bub.  I worked with Lil Bub and her dude to bring you this official BUB screen print.  Portions of the proceeds from each print sold will be donated directly to Lil BUB's Big Fund for the ASPCA, a charity that focuses specifically on animals with special needs.

These are six color screen prints, 18x24", signed/numbered edition of 240.  $25 each
They will be available tomorrow (May 8th) in my store.

If for some reason you are unfamiliar with Lil Bub, she's a unique cat with feline dwarfism and is probably the most renowned celebrity cat, as well as one who has used her popularity to raise several thousands of dollars for animal charities and shelters far and wide.  Her adorable internet presence brings many people joy every day, and I am proud to be working with her on this very special print release.

UPDATE: We raised over $1200 for Lil BUB's Big FUND!

I Ate Too Much at the Chicago Diner (again).

At the beginning of this year, I moved into a new studio space with my friends Landland and Never Sleeping.  We have been working tirelessly to get everything organized and set up (mostly so we can all get back to the drawing and printing we all have to do).  Everything will have a proper place, and we are doing our best to maximize every square inch of space here.  I think we have employed some pretty inventive and functional solutions.  I'm really excited about what this new studio and its atmosphere will do for progressing with our respective businesses and creative processes.  There's been a lot of amateur carpentry, loud math rock, Home Depot trips, and an endless stream of inside jokes.

If you're in Chicago, on Friday March 6th, I will be showing some prints at Saki Records.  There's a big party/reception from 6-9PM, and my friend's band AM Stations will be playing.  

I will be down in Austin, TX this March for FLATSTOCK 48. March 19th-21st, from 11AM - 6PM.

January update redux

The blog is back in town.

To the left is a snapshot of a little sketchbook drawing I did while my wife and I were traveling recently. I started playing around with opaque white pens on toned paper, which has proven to be quite enjoyable. It's definitely nice to have an additional value so readily available, even when just blocking in rough ideas. More on this later!

In other news, I will be down in Austin, TX this March for FLATSTOCK 48, and for you in Chicago, I will be having a show/reception at the beginning of March at Saki Records. Lots of really cool stuff is underway right now. Some very exciting new projects, shows, movement, the mixing of ink, and the creation of paper goods. Stay tuned.

2015!

Between art prints and rock posters, I produce 40 or more screen prints each year.  In 2015, I'll be staying the course, as well as produce new postcard sets, hand bound limited edition books (very excited about these!), and more.  I'm taking 2015 extra seriously.  Seriously!
 
DETAILS:
Subscribers will get one of everything I print for the entire 2015 calendar year (with matching edition numbers).  Between art prints and gig posters, I produce 40-50 prints a year.  Subscribers also get some bonuses, like test prints, an original sketch or two, and an exclusive subscribers-only print.  I send subscription tubes out twice a year, once in June or July for the first half of the year and the second installation is shipped shortly after the end of the subscription year.  Additionally, each subscription package is shipped in sturdy 6-inch diameter shipping tubes.
PRICING:
For US and Canada, the cost is $475 for the year.  
International subscriptions: $550 (price difference is to cover the postage expense).  
Regarding payment, I am totally fine with setting up payment plans.  A lot of subscribers will pay in full at once, but just as many will pay in two, three or four payments.  Just ask!

Please contact me if you're interested in subscribing or if you have any other questions.  justinsantora[at]gmail.com

New Art Print

 

"One Million Shareholders Can't Be Wrong!"

Eight color screen print, 10x30", signed numbered edition of 75.

Made in Chicago.

2014 Print Subscription

Between art prints and rock posters, I produce between 40 and 50 screen prints each year.  This coming year (2014), I plan to do the same, as well as produce postcard sets, LP covers, etc.  Lots of really cool stuff is planned for 2014.
 
DETAILS:
Subscribers will get one of everything I print for the entire 2014 calendar year (with matching edition numbers).  Between art prints and gig posters, I produce 40-50 prints a year.  Subscribers also get some bonuses, like test prints, an original sketch or two, and an exclusive subscribers-only print.  I send subscription tubes out twice a year, once in June or July for the first half of the year and the second installation is shipped shortly after the end of the subscription year.  Additionally, each subscription package is shipped in sturdy 6-inch diameter shipping tubes.
PRICING:
For US and Canada, the cost is $475 for the year
International subscriptions: $550 (price difference is to cover the postage expense)
Regarding payment, I am totally fine with setting up payment plans.  A lot of subscribers will pay in full at once, but just as many will pay in two, three or four payments.  Just ask!

Please contact me if you're interested in subscribing or if you have any other questions.

Undercooked kale chips and sleeping cats

I'm back from LA and dealing once again with the cold of Chicago, haha.  I had a great time out west for the Gallery 1988 show with JC Richard.  If you're interested, the entire show has been posted online here.

I had some pretty incredible food while we were in LA ("we" meaning me and my excellent girlfriend, Ingrid).  Kevin Tong met us for dinner before the opening reception and showed us Cafe Gratitude, which more or less blew my mind.  Our hosts, Jimmy and Sean (Ingrid's uncle and his partner, respectively) showed us a great time, some lovely sights, and an interesting documentary about the 1980's underground drag scene.

Jensen, Kate, Amber, and rest of the crew at Gallery 1988 all did an awesome job hanging the show, and everything looked great.  I finally met JC Richard in person, and he was even nicer than he is in his emails.
It feels good to be back, even after such a short trip.  I've suddenly got a lot to finish before leaving for Austin to participate in Flatstock 38.  There's some pretty cool stuff coming up.  Real talk. 
 

I'm just trying to keep it together here.

 

So as I've been mentioning a lot here and on myspace facebook, I will be showing a bunch of new paintings and art prints alongside Mr. JC Richard at Gallery 1988 (Melrose).  Both Richard and I will be in attendance on the night of the opening reception (March 1st, 2013), and the show will be up through March 23rd.  I just took a whole mess of work over to my dear photographer friend Logan to be photographed.  I spent a good chunk of yesterday evening cropping and adjusting the photos, so those of you who don't live in the LA area will still be able to see the show on Gallery 1988's website when the show goes live (more info on that very soon hopefully).
Okay!  Time to start packing up prints and paintings to send to the gallery, and I've one more new art print to squeeze in for the show.  Stay tuned for a few previews.

Preview to the max

Here's a blurry phone photo of me laying down a hand painted layer on a few wood variants of a new art print.  I'm trying something new for the upcoming show at Gallery 1988.  There will be (very) limited runs of some of my prints on maple plywood.  This particular one has a hand painted color on each wood print.

The sound of a new world being born

Oh hi!  Here's a close up (poorly lit, not-sharply-focused) picture from a new art print I just finished.  The rest of this print, along with other new prints, along with several paintings, along with lots of new work from JC Richard will be unveiled at Gallery 1988 on March 1st.  Okay, back to work!

Rubbernecker

The other day, my friend Derek emailed me a picture he had seen of an empty warehouse on the southside of Chicago that had caught fire during a recent cold snap.  The water from the fire hoses froze rather quickly, completely coating the building and nearby lightpoles, power lines, vehicles, etc. in a thick coating of ice. 
My lovely girlfriend convinced me to take a day off this past Thursday, so we decided we would take a drive that afternoon and see this building for ourselves. The fire had apparently flared up again, so there were three fire hoses aimed at the building, some police tape and roadblocks on Ashland Street, as well as several members of the Chicago Fire Department on the scene.  Nevertheless, we were able to get pretty close to the action and take snapshots of this bizarre and accidentally beautiful spectacle.  It has not been reported that anyone was hurt or injured in this fire, as the warehouse was unoccupied (it didn't even have working gas or electricity), so we were able to satisfy our curiosity without feeling too much like morbid camera-phone vultures.
To see an old and nearly forgotten building caked in ice made me think about what our world might look like if a new ice age came to be.  I tried to imagine all of our magnificent structures, phenomenal feats of human engineering, transit systems, commercial airplanes, factories, roller coasters, water towers, missile silos--for better or worse--thickly entombed in frost for a future civilization to eventually discover.
I'd never seen anything like this before.  This has been a relatively hot topic here in Chicago, and between the scale of the fire (reportedly the largest in the city in seven years) and the remarkable appearance of a scorched and iced-covered warehouse; I think this will be a memorable little footnote in the city's history.  I know I'll always remember it, and I'm certain some kind of drawing and/or print will come of the many photos I took the other day.

Paint, pressing, pedaling, and punctuation!

Here's a little photo of our cat Kit having a supervised visit on the back porch.  The little guy loves going outside, but we have to keep an eye on him, as his adventures through the neighborhood would sometimes have him out for hours at a time.  He'd always make it back home, but his last big outing was a little too close for comfort.  So now we keep him on very controlled visits to the lot behind our apartment building (that, and catnip).  In this case he didn't venture past the steps, which were coated in a layer of very slick ice.
Quite a lot has been going on lately.  I have been putting in some pretty serious hours painting, as well as working on drawings for some brand new art prints, all of which will be in an upcoming two-man exhibition at Gallery 1988 with the excellent JC Richard.  I'm excited about these new pieces, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr. Richard makes for the show.  More on all of that very soon!
My band has been working on an album on and off for the past ten months.  All the tracking was finished a few months ago, and we all just approved the final mixes last week.  It's being mastered now.  We're all pretty stoked about it.  More on that soon, too.
It's a cold 17 degrees (Fahrenheit) here in Chicago today.  I'm contemplating layering up, breaking out the hat and gloves, and trying to skate a little bit today.  The streets are dry, after all.  This kind of thing would be best executed with a friend, though, so it's going to depend on other people's availability.

Les Rois Oranges!

I know my posts have been few and far between lately, but I've actually really missed doing posts about what I'm working on and about other miscellaneous adventures that don't necessarily involve my light table or getting ink on my jeans.
To the left is the last poster I printed in 2012.  It's a tour poster for The Devil Makes Three, and they will be available from the band on their upcoming tour.  I'll also have some copies for sale on my website in the not-too-distant future.
2012 has been an eventful year.  I printed a whole mess of art prints and rock posters, cramped my hand up doing some of my personal favorite drawings and paintings to date, went skateboarding a lot, joined a band, recorded an album, and tracked countless miles on my bike all over the city of Chicago.  Work took me to Spain, Germany, North Dakota, and Seattle.  I explored Istanbul on an overnight layover.  I skated a massive storm ditch in Albuquerque before a soundcheck while out on a brief tour with the band.  I feasted on vegan donuts a couple days later in Las Vegas.  My girlfriend and I drove our Fiat 500 rental car along I-5 in Washington with the sunroof open and bellies full of Mediterranean food.  I attended my first ever Hanukkah party, only to attend another the following night (Hanukkah parties are awesome, by the way).  I spent perhaps too many hours in a van, laughing with guys who are quickly becoming close friends of mine.  Besides posters, I had the exciting pleasure of being commissioned to do artwork for a beer label, a book cover, a print for a popular TV show, and a few albums.  I am still touched and flattered when people approach me with opportunities like these.  It's been a weird sort of journey to navigate and learn this trade publicly the way so many artists and designers tend to do.  But it's been rewarding.
It's an uncertain, bizarre, and sometimes incomprehensibly cruel world, but I'm immensely grateful for what I have.  Happy new year to anybody reading this.  Let's take care of each other out there.

2013 Print Subscription

DETAILS:
Subscribers will get one of everything I print for the entire 2013 calendar year (with matching edition numbers).  Between art prints and gig posters, I produce 45-50 prints a year.  Subscribers also get some bonuses, like test prints, an original sketch or two, and an exclusive subscribers-only print.  I send subscription tubes out twice a year, once in June or July for the first half of the year and the second installation is shipped shortly after the end of the subscription year.  Additionally, each subscription package is shipped in sturdy 6-inch diameter shipping tubes.
PRICING:
For US and Canada, the cost is $475 for the year
International subscriptions: $550 (price difference is to cover the postage expense)
Regarding payment, I am totally fine with setting up payment plans.  A lot of subscribers will pay in full at once, but just as many will pay in two, three or four payments.  Just ask!

Please contact me if you're interested in subscribing or if you have any other questions.

I make a less-than-ideal penguin

This photo was taken this morning from the parking lot of my hotel in Minot, ND.  Minot is a very small city located about 50 miles south of the Canadian border.  I flew in last night for Minot State University's NOTSTOCK.  I am here (as is fellow Chicago poster artist, Jay Ryan) to speak with students and faculty, do screen printing demonstrations, and generally have an awesome time.
Today I gave a presentation about my work to a group of students, finished an exclusive Notstock print (with help from some kind MSU students), ate bagels, laughed quite a bit, and went swimming in the hotel's excellent pool.  Tomorrow, I have decided to print a poster for my own band's show (which is October 13th at Township, Chicagoans!).  Jay's doing an awesome print of some beavers.
I am overwhelmed by the reception here.  Everyone has been incredibly hospitable, friendly, accommodating, and enthusiastic about what we're doing.  Things have been pretty non-stop since I got off the plane Wednesday night, so it feels nice to decompress in my room a little bit.  There's also a rodeo in town or something, so this hotel is populated largely by cowboys.  Weird.

"Wayfarer 515" original drawing available

I am auctioning off the original drawing for the recent "Wayfarer 515" print.  It is currently on ebay and can be seen/bid on right here.  Check it out.
All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Israel/Palestine chapter of Physicians For Human Rights.  It is a non profit, non government organization that works to promote health care, solidarity, and non-violence for people in both Israel and occupied Palestine.  More info.

End the occupation.

Flatstock Europe 8 ended with impossibly beautiful weather.  I spent the following day hanging out with other poster artists (including some very awesome newcomers from Mexico City), eating pizza, drinking wine, and seeing Boy Division deafen a tiny club on the Reeperbahn.
I was touched by the generally warm reception I felt in Hamburg.  I spoke with people who had attended or purchased work from our show at Feinkunst Kruger last year or who had bought prints from me at Flatstock in previous years.  I stayed with friends who I realized I don't get to see nearly often enough.
I'm in Istanbul, wrapping up a second long layover here.  I watched Al Jazeera all morning and had some food from a pretty fancy continental breakfast.  
Time to head home!

Bagels, pakoras, architects, tea, and chilly evenings

It's a pretty cold morning in Hamburg, and the last day of Flatstock is upon us.  It's a bit rainy, and I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that it clears up soon.  It's harder to sell paper to other people when it's raining.
I've been staying with my friend Ralf, sleeping on the couches in the office of his gallery.  As usual, I have been finding lots of great food in this city.  There's a Loving Hut right across the street from the gallery, which for those who are unfamiliar, is an excellent place to get an entirely plant based meal.  I had some excellent spring rolls and a red curry yesterday.
I fly back to Istanbul for another extended layover on Monday, then back to Chicago.  I'll be home for about a week and then I am off to Minot, North Dakota for MSU's NOTSTOCK.  I'm really looking forward to this event, as it sounds like a lot of fun.
For those who have recently ordered prints, I ran into a bit of a schedule overload and was working tirelessly to finish some posters before getting on a plane across the Atlantic.  So, this means I will be shipping all orders out as soon as I get back to Chicago this coming week.  Also, I am going to be posting a bunch of new items in the store on my site this week, as well.

Havuç Suyu!

Greetings from Istanbul!  It's been a while since I've done a post, but I am going to make it a point to start posting more regularly.  I'm wrapping up a long layover in Turkey and am about to head to the airport to get to Hamburg for Flatstock Europe 8.  I'm also drinking some excellent tea right now.  I'll post more tonight!