John Mattos poster evokes Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th
The fireworks and the waterfall of fire have gone out, but there’s still a way to hang on to a permanent piece of the Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary celebration.
The Art Deco Society of California commissioned award-winning San Francisco graphic artist John Mattos to design a poster of the world’s most famous Art Deco structure.
Mattos’ creation, done entirely on Adobe Illustrator, pays homage to the afternoon light falling on the towers, as seen from a traveler passing below. A woman in period dress in the lower right corner walks a borzoi in the fog-laced headlands.
“I was going for maximum Deco,” said Mattos, who has worked from a Chinatown studio for the past 30 years.
He has won more than 100 awards for graphic design excellence, including a gold medal from the New York Society of Illustrators. Currently under contract with the U.S. Parks Service, Mattos has designed images for the Fox Theater in Oakland, Apple, Disney, MGM/United Artists and Art Deco Society of California: Posters. www.art decosociety.org/poster/in dex.htm. Aerosmith. He’s created posters for the 50th anniversary of the Bay Bridge and for the San Francisco historical F-line street cars.
“I was flattered to be asked to commemorate the Golden Gate Bridge, because it’s something I’ve been sketching on my own for decades,” he said.
Two thousand posters have been printed and will be sold for $75 through the Art Deco Society of California’s website, as well as Framer’s Workshop in Berkeley.
“Mattos is a unique San Francisco artist who has a Deco style to his work, so he was our first and only choice,” said Karen Geer, print director of the Art Deco Society of California.
“He captured the majesty of the bridge, somehow making it mechanical, yet airy and surreal at the same time.”