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Hand Bills .
While digital media has replaced many traditional forms of promotion, handbills and flyers continue to be produced—often as limited-edition collectibles rather than just advertisements. Artists, including Trafford Parsons, are reclaiming the format, blending street art, satire, and pop culture into hand-pulled silk screen prints that fuse old-school DIY aesthetics with fine art techniques.
Whether pinned to a club wall, handed out in a dark alley, or framed as a piece of art, handbills capture the energy of a moment in time, making them both ephemeral and timeless.
Affordable. Bold. Instantly Iconic, a punch of surreal satire, smaller, high-impact format. Frame them, pin them, gift them—art that moves with you.
With the rise of counterculture movements in the 1960s and 1970s, handbills took on a new role in underground music scenes. The punk movement of the late ‘70s used crude, Xeroxed black-and-white flyers to promote gigs in clubs and warehouses. Bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and music venues used DIY flyers not only as advertisements but also as artistic expressions of rebellion.
In the 1980s and 1990s, as hip-hop and electronic music exploded, club flyers became more colorful, more experimental, and more collectible. Rave culture, in particular, embraced psychedelic and futuristic designs, often featuring surreal imagery, bright neon colors, and cryptic directions to secret locations. Graphic designers like Peter Saville (Factory Records) and Shepard Fairey (Obey) elevated flyers into an art form, influencing contemporary street art and graphic design.