"Billboard '74"

"Billboard '74" is my largest collage at 150 x 125 cm (59 x 49 inches) using an original set of movie poster promotion sheets from the French romantic comedy « la moutarde me monte au nez! » released in 1974 with Jane Birkin and Pierre Richard. The scenario... Pierre Dubois is a bumbling math teacher with an eye for the older female students... his father is a reputable surgeon who is running for mayor... there's a film shooting crew in town and the paparazzi are around too... zaney antics follow with typical French coincidences to heighten the comic elements. The film was later released in the USA with the title "I'm Losing My Temper" in 1975.

Although these vintage film poster sheets from my collection of printed ephemera were unused - and would have measured 4 x 3 meters (13 x 10 feet) overall if pasted-up correctly on a roadside advertising hoarding - I tore them apart and repasted the sections mainly with typography of the red film title and some of the cast and crew listing, together on a large backing sheet of Fabriano art paper, as a graphic collage with added acrylic distressing to simulate weathering from the outdoor elements. I used Billboard in the artwork title to reflect the title of the well-known American film and TV entertainment media publications.