...well, let me tell you something...
Alexandra Fischer moved to the Bay Area from Germany in 2002. Working with both photography and digital collage, Alex brings a fresh look to the classic rock poster and her designs, often seamlessly combining her own work with found images. She creates artwork that references the colorful history of art and posters, while having a decidedly modern look.
She has created posters for The Fillmore, The Warfield, Amsterdam’s Club Paradiso, and works with several bands, artists and organizations. Further, she co-art-directs the Moonalice poster series which incorporates over 1300 works of poster art at this point in time. She currently lives and works in her Alameda, CA studio and holds a BFA in Photography from the California College of the Arts.
If someone would have told me two decades ago that I would be married, live in America and make art for a living, I wouldn’t have believed them. “Yeah Right” and a smile would have been my answer. I was born in 1981 in a town called Moenchengladbach, near Cologne, Germany. Feeling uncertain as to what direction I wanted to take in my life after concluding a high-school experience, which seemed to last an eternity, I decided to take a job as an Au-pair in Geneva, Switzerland for a year. It turned out to be a life changing decision.
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While living in Geneva, I was exposed to various forms of art and was inspired by people I met and the art I saw. Certainly falling into the category of inspirational were Chris Shaw, Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan, whom I met for the first time in the early summer of 2001. The artists were on one of their legendary Europe Poster & Art Show Tours and were exhibiting their work at the “L’Usine” (a bar/art/event space). I remember being visually overwhelmed and instantly captivated, when walking into the large, high-ceiling room for the first time. Posters were strung high and low on wires across the space making the colors of the posters stand out starkly and bold against the grungy and industrial surroundings. That summer I fell in love with 2 things, posters and my now husband Chris Shaw.
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In 2002 after working in film production for a year back in Cologne, Germany, I packed 2 (very large) suitcases, took a plane to San Francisco and moved to America. Once here, I started to learn to use the computer as an art tool. Learning by doing is how I made my first posters. At the same time, still-photography became a larger passion of mine after moving to the US. At the end of 2008 I graduated from the California College of the Arts with a BFA in photography and extra credits in Film.
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Today, I integrate and combine all the tools I have at my disposal, the computer, my photography, pen & ink and found images to create my designs & poster art. My inspirations comes from music, vintage lithographs & photographs, from pop culture, and simply, from people, events and my surroundings. When I begin work on a design I sometimes clearly see the image in my mind before it’s done, but other-times the art grows organically until I see it’s finished.
Having close professional and personal relationships with fellow (poster) artists around the Bay Area and US, working on the Moonalice poster series and at the Firehouse / Hangar 18 is inspirational. I think in a creative environment, people feed of each other and the individual work develops further. Over the last years my portfolio has grown and includes designs and posters for bands like Jewel, David Byrne, Sharon Jones, Michael Franti, Moonalice, Pepper, Social Distortion, Ryan Adams, Flipper, String Cheese Incident, Ani DiFranco, The Waybacks, Cold War Kids, 7Walkers and the list goes on.
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Together with Chris Shaw, I have been Co-art-directing the Moonalice & Doobie Decibel System poster series in recent years, as well as managed other interesting art project that clients brought to me. Working closely with so many other artists has been a real pleasure and inspiration on so many levels. I enjoy the social aspects as well as the organizational challenges this role brings with it, and when it gets busy I start having fun.
I feel blessed every day that I can share my art & vision with this world, as well as help others realize their visions and brands.
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- AF -