CANCELLED At Skylight: Akiko Stehrenberger presents AKIKOMATIC
CANCELLED If you’ve caught a glimpse of a promotional movie poster in the last 15 years, chances are you were taking in the work of Akiko Stehrenberger, the Los Angeles-based artist you didn’t know you knew.
Akiko Stehrenberger has worked on projects for some of cinema’s most important and influential filmmakers, translating their unique vision from screen to film poster. The list of names includes a long roster of trailblazers, among them Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Jonathan Glazer, Harmony Korine, The Coen Brothers, Sofia Coppola, David Lynch, Michael Haneke, and dozens of others.
Stehrenberger, a California native, imbues her unique brand of surrealism to the art of the movie poster utilizing various techniques, including painting, computers, and traditional forms of graphic design—all while conceptually dissecting the films themselves, which helps to illuminate why Akiko is such a vital visual artist.
The book will put readers at the center of her process (from concept to execution), examining how her life and heroes influenced the special vision she brings to the world of film poster design. Akiko’s art making story will be told in a way that mirrors her process, utilizing analog and modern techniques (including film, film photography, and illustration), all in an effort to a better understanding of her creativity.
Having become one of the most respected movie poster designers and illustrators of her generation, with 28 Clio awards to her name, she is now on the cusp of a major creative change in her life: She has begun to embrace her own fine art and has branched out into new mediums, with the hope of exhibiting her work in the future. This book will capture what she has so skillfully harvested from just one realm of her imagination so far.
Design by Sabrina Che
Akiko Stehrenberger is a 29-time CLIO award winning movie poster art director, illustrator and designer, who works with directors, movie studios, advertising and movie advertising agencies.
She was deemed “Poster Girl” by Interview magazine in 2011, Creative Review dedicated their January 2011 Monograph to her illustrated movie posters, her poster for “Bad Milo” was featured on the Conan show, Vanity Fair included her “Funny Games” and “Kiss of the Damned” posters in their “Best Movie Posters of All Time” list, her “Da 5 Bloods” poster is on view at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and NASA/JPL commissioned her to do the Artemis space launch posters in 2022. The sold out “Akikomatic: The Work of Akiko Stehrenberger” was published by Hat & Beard Press in 2020, but a second edition can be ordered here.
Her clients include A24, A&E Networks, Absolut, Amazon Studios, AMC Networks, Criterion Collection, The Duplass Brothers, Focus Features, FX, HBO Max, IFC Films, JPL/NASA, Levi’s, Lifetime, Lionsgate, Magnolia Pictures, Mondo, Mubi, Mutant, Neon, Netflix, Nine Muses Entertainment, The Orchard, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Porsche, Saatchi & Saatchi NY, Screen Media, Sony Pictures, Weiden + Kennedy Amsterdam, Weiden + Kennedy Portland, and more.