Art of the Poster - Ben Chlapek, NeverSleeping.com

Part 7 of a Series

Interview by Pete Dulin. Art by Ben Chlapek.

Published: Monday, February 23, 2009

PresentMagazine.com launched an ongoing series in February 2007 titled Art of the Poster––an examination of posters as a functional document that also represents an artistic image of informal beauty and conscious design. In this edition, we display the work of Ben Chlapek (NeverSleeping.com), who is based in Columbia, Missouri.

*Other articles in the series.

Ben Chlapek Art of the Poster

Ben Chlapek NeverSleeping.com

Present: Tell us about your artistic training and background as a designer/illustrator. Self-taught? Academic studies?

Chlapek: I went to the University of Missouri (Columbia) and got a BFA in Graphic Design. During my junior year a grad student, Bob Hartzell, showed up and started a screenprinting class. I dove into that head first, then when I graduated in December of '07 I set up a studio in my apartment. Everything I own now has ink on it.

Present: Are you working on a zine? What's it called? What's it about? Where can people get it?

Chlapek: Just finished one actually! It's titled "How can I be expected to work on a day like this?" Screenprinted by hand in my living room, it's 34 fun and colorful pages. It's a bunch of handmade type and little characters, loosely based on doing what you want for a living and not hating it. Get it here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20975185 I worked on it off and on between freelance projects, and I'm already turning the gears on a few more.

Present: Do you have influences (art, design, other) that you care to cite? How has the work of others influenced you?

Chlapek: Of course. As far as new(ish) people go...Jesse LeDoux, Seripop, Mike Perry, Little Friends of Printmaking, and the other hundred sites I have bookmarked. Older artists...I've been really into Saul Steinberg and Maurice Sendak lately.

Present: How would you describe your aesthetic as a designer/illustrator that separates your work from others?

Chlapek: I think there is a certain warmth and innocence in most of my work. Almost everything I do is hand drawn and scanned in, so hopefully that makes it more engaging. I love the juxstaposition of childlike drawings with adult concepts, I've been told I incorporate that quite a bit...lots of times without realizing it.