ventures in promotional design
as seen on tv
let us not assault the spirit by creating lowest common denominator noise.
let us create brands opposed to the neofeudal goal of socio-economic hopelessness.
let our brands declare themselves life-giving endeavors for the benefit of all beings.
or at least let us make ’em look really kick-ass.
cd art, event & concert posters / nationwide / 1995-prez
⊕ the fellaheen. phoenix/scottsdale/tempe, san francisco, hollywood. 1990-97.
⊕ crescent city blues & bbq festival. new orleans. 2014.
⊕ the fellaheen. once. just for kicks.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
it’s unclear why wordpress ruins the sound of video. it’s their thing. like the uncle who farts & blames the dog.
to hear the true glory of the vids on trentreker.com, please click to watch them on the youtube, as bernie sanders calls it when dueling against joe biden, that corporatist neoliberal wanker.
print ads & flyers / scottsdale / 2007
⊕ eeg owned and operated nightclubs and adult drinking establishments throughout metro phoenix. they had a place called the sandbar. yes, really. cool gen x folk will remember the dead milkmen’s “bitchin’ camaro.” eeg wanted feet. they had sand on the patio. of course. trick or treat, here’s your feet.
⊕ designed club flyers and full-page magazine ads in trendy yuppie mags with ten perfume ads each. they smelled like a teenage girl when she leaves nordstrom. not a scent of discernment. perfect.
⊕ more words.
⊕ after initial hesitation, the clients found edgy and humorous imagery brought in more customers. october blew up with the monster spider ad.
decent men helping hurting men through music / louisiana prisons / 2022 – present
⊕ in november of 2016 i met a few dudes from a band. they were playing in the prison where i taught zen. they’re christian and the non-hypocritical kind.
their musicianship is outstanding. a kind of countrified rock-n-roll.
⊕ one of their songs is “house of the rising sun” by the animals. halfway through, they segue into “amazing grace” with perfection. first time i heard this, i was brought to tears.
recently, i contacted them and asked if they’d like some poster designs, pro bono. they said yes. i whipped up some stuff, then over the course of the following months, did more for ’em.
⊕ seems they were delivered to the prison a mere two days before their show but unlike other short-notice gigs, the house (aka the prison chapel) was packed.
i left louisiana at the end of 2020 but some men don’t have that choice. for them, i’ll try to ensure they have a good time with the good word and good music from my friends at potter’s wheel.
dive bar coke head infamy / austin / 2009-2011
⊕ the outside shadowbox menu below was 19.5×32 inches next to the door before you walked in.
⊕ casino. what can be said? had fun. made money. the 20×30-inch blue note record-looking sign with the cheeseburger was a sandwich board on the sidewalk for years.
decent men blessing hurting men / louisiana / 2022
⊕ made the 24×36-inch devil girl poster with mid-century propaganda vibes to promote the 15th anniversary of a million hungover regrets for benefit of struggling working class against the bourgeoisie. oi.
a church, bikers, bands and strippers / 2002-2010
⊕ monstercraftsman had just began his side gig making chain tensioners and a few other custom chopper things while reselling brands like biltwell. made this edgy ad and propagated it throughout three or four biker magazines in 2010. fun times.
⊕ bikerMetric freedom or death motorbike bash. austin. 2010.
⊕ club femme nu. honolulu. 2005.
⊕ thunderosa biker band. austin. 2009.
shake motorcycle co. & bikermetric / 2002- 2012
⊕ i’ve created a lot of biker stuff over the years, including designing, painstakingly manufacturing and testing custom brake rotors.
⊕ between 2001 to 2011, i designed, implemented and/or manufactured 9 websites for 7 motorbike-related companies, 8 company logos, 11 magazine ads, 6 t-shirts, 2 foot peg and 3 riser designs, numerous motorcycle rally banners, more flyers and postcards than i remember, and 12 brake rotor designs. from those, 2 rotor designs and one footpeg design were actually made and sold in small runs (seen here).
⊕ images from the early days are too small and too poor of quality to show here. but stuff made for print? yes.
gypsyrelic t-shirts / 2002-2020
⊕ man, i’ve designed a lot of t-shirts for a lot of clients. made some for myself, even. back in the age of woefully pixelated flip phone camera pix. what i have from those days lacks too much quality (ha) and size (nooo!) to show them here, which is too bad. the “sex rockets from god” babydoll was freaking rad. “my bike is black. like my heart,” wore that one all the time. sold a few of ’em, too. my fave was “chrome is only cool ’cause it’s pierced through the head of my cock.” wore that one most. fun at the waterin’ hole, that shirt.
⊕ what i do have are a bunch of test designs created for a new orleans strip club party girl hooker i knew in 2013. she wanted to get out of strip club hooking. surprise. having lunch one afternoon at juan’s flying burrito on magazine, i was inspired by something on the wall and that night created the “fleur de bones” you see here.
⊕ she asked for them on “shirt grafix” as she once texted, to “see what they’d look like.” i did my best to place the images on “shirts” as you see here.
⊕ miss blessed junkie hooker paid for my services but never printed the tees. some of them are pretty nifty.
self promotion posters / 2022
⊕ as you may have noticed, i don’t do the bland ubiquity of blue & white corporate humorlessness.
⊕ i learned that in college and did it at the beginning of my career. those days are long over.
⊕ contact me and i’ll create eye-popping designs for you. they won’t be obvious nor will they be safe. let’s leave the kind of design which appeals to the salient attributes of a sphere with yes-men and cowards.
⊕ my name is dr. trent reker. i am the gonzo graphic designer your marketing class professor warned you about. i’m the artist of ten million visions, the planet’s premiere world domination consultant.
⊕ ONE DOESN’T MAKE AN IMPACT BEING SAFE AND OBVIOUS. i’ve seen fear leave men forgotten by their lack of consequence. don’t be that client.
REACH OUT:
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504/339.4918
top secret lair
185 jb lane
sharps chapel, tn 37866
open hours
M – F: 10am – 6pm (eastern time)
S – S: whatever i feel like