When I was contacted to do my first season of @sfopera posters, I asked them very bluntly about why they would think I'd be right for the job given the often dark and depressing political and human interest related work I had a reputation for. "You’re perfect. Lust, revenge, adultery, treachery, power struggles, fratricide and greed. You're our kind of guy."
@sfopera poster for ELEKTRA explores raw, brutal themes of vengeful obsession, traumatic grief, and psychological decay, set against a background of familial betrayal.
#operaposters
@adambombz@matthew_shilvock #brianstaufferillustration #elektra #sfopera
The lynching of the American vote.
In a single week, the US Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Virginia "rulings" have done more to undermine the voting powers of minorities than any others since the Jim Crow-era (1877-1960).
No one hides from history. These efforts will go down as another chapter in the long story of ignorance in the USA. I'm ashamed to that I ever believed these voices were from the past.
#votingrightsact
#brianstaufferillustration
#politicalart
I'm honored and humbled to have these 3 images selected to appear in the new American Illustration 45 Book. My thanks to the jury and as alway Mark Heflin for the championing of the human art of illustration.
The first is an SF Opera poster for the production of Manon, about woman who is ultimately destroyed by pursuit of wealth.
The second was for an American Scholar magazine about the self-hatred feeding gun violence in the USA.
The last was a cover for Sojourners about using thirst as a weapon against civilians.
@american_illustration_winners
#brianstaufferillustration
Credits:
@sfopera@matthew_shilvock AD: @adambombz@theamscho AD: David Herbick
@sojogram AD: @kory_kennedy_design
Yesterday a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made a ruling that would make it illegal to dispense Mifepristone via the mail, effectively making abortion illegal in states that have made it harder and harder for women to choose.
Three men, no women or doctors, making an often life-threatening choice for all women.
Rough sketch from 2022.
#tbt #brianstaufferillustration #reproductiverights #womensrights #prochoice
The Conservative Judges of the Supreme Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act
In a move meant to make it harder for Black Americans to participate in American electoral politics, the Supreme Court paved the way for the GOP's un-American tactics that are designed solely to disenfranchise and reduce the power of the individual's vote.
History won't hide these people, or their obvious motivations. How do they look themselves in the mirror?
#votingrightsact #brianstaufferillustration #politicalillustration
I've long-since deleted the hateful comments I got from Trump supporters who claimed it was blasphemous of me to even remotely suggest an image deifying the orange one.
This was from a 2017 assignment in The New Republic that discussed Trump's manipulation of the evangelical right who were rushing to support a man who personifies the opposite of almost every teaching of Jesus.
And now....
#brianstaufferillustration #evangelicalsfortrump @newrepublic
Is Cuba Trump's next "project"?
When Trump smells desperation, it means another opportunity to vastly underestimate the complexity that changes in Cuba will reveal. Millions of suffering Cubans need to be helped, not used as a political prop.
An unused rough sketch.
#wip #cuba #potus #brianstaufferillustration
Trump's Tactic - Deadline to destruction.
This chaotic and destructive clock resets everyday of this administration.
#iranwar #brianstaufferillustration #editorialillustration
