Helmo

16 x 24 in. (40 x 60 cm)

Silkscreen

Condition: Excellent

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Floating geometric forms evoke the rhythms of jazz music

Thomas Couderc and Clément Vauchez founded studio Helmo in Montreuil, France in 2007. Their design work has won international prizes and has been added to the collections of major museums. 

In 2017, Helmo created a set of eight vibrant screenprints for their longtime client Jazzdor, a jazz festival held in France and Germany.

The posters all feature brightly-colored shapes floating in layers over the informational text. The shapes are arranged in dynamic compositions, playfully evoking the syncopated rhythms of jazz. As an added visual treat, the posters fit together into a continuous design when placed next to each other, as you can see in this installation shot from an exhibition of larger-scale versions of the posters. 

Poster fresco at CEAAC, contemporary art center in Strasbourg, 2017. Credit: Helmo

Couderc and Vauchez print their posters at Lézard Graphique in Strasbourg, a printing press known for its expertise in silkscreen printing. The silkscreen process, while time-consuming, allows for the vivid, opaque colors seen in the Jazzdor posters, as well as the richly-textured surface produced by layering the ink. (If you’d like to see the printers at the Lézard Graphique in action, check out Une jounée au Lézard Graphique on Vimeo. No need to know French, there’s no dialogue!) 

On the printing press. Credit: Helmo

On a street kiosk in Strasbourg, four of the Jazzdor posters can be seen in their natural habitat, carrying out their work as eye-catching public advertisements. They’re a  bit tattered and torn – but still impressive – reminding us of the ephemeral nature of the poster medium. 

On the street in Strasbourg, France. Credit: Helmo