The Art of the Pavement Poster

Back in the 1990s it seemed that every share house and community/college radio station had at least one Pavement poster hanging in the living room or kitchen.

Both the band from Stockton, California and their posters came to define the slack, carefree attitude that came with living or working in a building that had a regular cleaning roster that some do-gooder would stick on the fridge or email around the office. A colourful Pavement poster was a visual 'fuck you' to this ignored roster.

Forgetting that Pavement are an important piece of musical history for a second, we believe they also hold an important place in the visual art world. Over their ten-year existence (and comeback tour), Pavement changed the way gig posters were viewed. With a focus on emerging and established visual artists taking on a specific show, every Pavement poster ended up being less about the details and more about the surrounding artwork. These posters came to define the indie-rock posters of our time and are still influencing tour posters worldwide.

As Stephen Malkmus works his way around Australia and New Zealand with The Jicks we decided to take a look back at some of our favourite Pavement posters.

Catch Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks in New Zealand:

March 10 - Chicks Hotel, Dunedin
March 11 - Chicks Hotel, Dunedin
March 12 - Studio, Auckland
March 13 - James Cab, Wellington