Swamp Dogs 2021

Curator: Wow, this piece screams B-movie magic! Gives me late-night creature feature vibes right away. Editor: Precisely. We're looking at Robert Sammelin's 2021 poster design for Swamp Dogs, and you immediately pick up on what resonates— the piece blends pulp illustration, comic-book grit and the visual tropes of classic monster films into graphic art, primed for promotional use and cultural consumption. Curator: You said it! It's like if Russ Meyer directed a comic book. But look closer, you see the labor that's gone into this, the balance, the way the eye is led through the piece, all in the service of what... creating a thirst for the material? Editor: Right—the materiality of art is not just physical. It's the confluence of artistic labor and industrial production: how does the style engage our appetites for spectacle and narrative? For Sammelin, it's his manipulation of retro-styles as he builds this composite world. We can see it, we feel it, it shapes how we approach the content, Curator: Exactly! I can almost smell the cheap newsprint and stale popcorn! But it is very effective and definitely made with a specific consumer and market in mind. I can imagine who will buy this comic series based solely on this one design. Editor: Yes, absolutely—the way it borrows from pulp aesthetics reflects on their commodification of retro elements and nostalgic appeals of graphic storytelling for mature audiences who are willing to buy-in into new adventures with established art techniques. This "Swamp Dog" wants your dollars! Curator: Well, its working... on me anyway, maybe? What would you say your biggest take away from our little convo here? Editor: I'm thinking a lot about what "material" even means: The hand of the artist is present here, of course, and they have crafted it specifically to get your money but isn’t that where it starts for everything else as well?