Studio Visit with Artist and Musician Ron Liberti Ahead of His September Exhibit at Horace Williams House

ARTS & CULTURE

With all the rich visual art that’s available in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area, one doesn’t immediately think of concert posters as an art form. Yet, they are widely recognized as art because of the unique craftsmanship involved in the practice.

For over three decades, local artist and musician Ron Liberti has been creating posters for North Carolina music venues and beyond. A New Jersey native, Liberti moved to the area in 1991, thinking he was going to go to grad school. “My friend and I moved down, and my band, Pipe, started, and I just fell into how great it is here,” he told The Local Reporter (TLR).

Liberti’s specialty is screen printing. The process is entirely manual from the design stage to the finished art. He most often begins with collaged elements, and the design develops from there. Liberti’s said about the recent poster for a triple-bill of bands (including Pipe): “I had a book of muscle men and a book of cowboys. So, I have the cowboy riding the muscle man.”

Posters must convey critical information (date, time, place) with an eye-catching design to persuade the general public that what it’s promoting is worth considering for a night out.

Hand lettering or using Letraset (scratch-on letters) adds to the originality of Liberti’s work. The poster must also capture the essence of what it’s promoting. This is conveyed by all the elements that go into the finished work in various stages.

“The composition has to make sense to me in black and white first. The posters are done in my head before I print them. Coming up with the idea is the fun and toughest part. Then it’s just a matter of me putting it together.”

Designs are “burned” onto the screen, and color (ink) is squeegeed later. Liberti prefers to use only a few colors, although sometimes they bleed into each other, creating variations. “On a kiosk or pole, it stands out more if it’s nice, simple, and striking with 2-3 colors,” he said.

Left: Gig poster with additional tidbits such as presenter and album release. Right: Liberti at his black light, which comes into play in one of the screen-printing steps. Photos and composite by Pamir Kiciman.

Each poster is printed by hand in a multi-step process that’s abbreviated here. Liberti usually makes runs of 50 prints, which he initials and numbers with a pencil.

Early examples of the art form were the concert and boxing-style posters in the 1950s, which functioned as ads printed on cheap paper and pinned on telephone poles. In the mid-1960s, the counterculture and music movements transformed these humble posters into expressive art.

Limited-edition screen-printed posters, also known as gig posters, are highly valued today, displayed in galleries and museums, and have become collectibles.

UNC-CH’s Southern Folklife Collection, housed in Wilson Library, preserves Liberti’s work and is open to the public.

With a reception on September 6, 2–5 pm, Liberti opens his new exhibition, What Goes On — Studio Ephemera and Workplace Tools at Horace Williams House (610 Rosemary St), with music by Kelly Reidy and C. Albert Blomquist.

Curator Marcela Slade — who also curates art shows for the Town of Carrboro and the Drakeford Library Complex — wrote in a press release: “The show is an inside look at his studio environment and the tools of the trade which are integral to his work process.” It runs until September 27.

Liberti confirmed that the show will have some of the X-Acto knives he uses for cutting, tape and glue, among other items. His poster art and new works are also included. “I’m psyched about the show. It’s a beautiful place, and the gallery is octagonal.”

The art gallery of the historical house is known as the Octagon Room. In this show, some of the ephemera are various tabletops and surfaces from Liberti’s studio for laying down the squeegee or mixing colors. “It’s items from around my studio and a love letter to the gear and stuff that I use,” he commented while showing them during TLR’s visit. They collect layers and layers of colors over time and become spontaneous ‘paintings’ that also occur on his boots and clothes.

Top L: Three upcoming show posters that each feature slightly different blue-green variegation, a spontaneous characteristic of screen printing. Top R: A surface of collected paint from the artist’s squeegee. Bottom R: A large surface of collected paint from the screen-printing process. Bottom L: The artist at his ‘flat files,’ a safe way to store print media. Photos and composite by Pamir Kiciman.

Exhibit curator Slade commented that Liberti is “A big fish in this small pond. His work is museum quality, made for a cosmopolitan city, and we are blessed to have his humble soul decorate posts and walls, private and public, with his art.”

Liberti has resisted the direction of the industry toward mass production of digital designs. The only designs he makes on a computer are album covers. His customized art posters celebrate physical media and the value of handmade art, produced one by one by the artist. When it’s in your hands, you feel the qualities of the paper and the texture of the ink.

He’s happy he’s stuck to his “luddite” ways and that he’s self-contained in a home studio. “I’ve had studios outside the house before, but I just like to get up and get working,” he mentioned. “And when I wake up, everything’s right where I left it.”

Luddite came up several times in the conversation. In this case, it seems to be a superpower.

For hours and exhibition access throughout September, contact Horace Williams House.

Pamir Kiciman is an artist who writes about a range of the arts and the creative process. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press.