Becauseâas we all knowâthe appreciation of any piece of artwork is subjective, Limited Paper totally recognizes that the series weâve been running this week (The Top 20 Posters of 2012) might be the most pointless thing weâve ever spent a serious amount of time considering, but Iâll be damned if it hasnât been a tremendous amount of fun: the first two parts of our list (part one here and part two here) resulted in some of the most enjoyable, friendly debates that Limited Paperâs had via email all year. Yes, itâs pointless to ârankâ art, but as the saying (I just made up) goes, âIf thereâs one thing collectors love doing more than collecting, itâs debating about the things they collect.âToday, weâre here to pull double-duty: first, weâre going to finish off our Top 20 Posters of 2012 list by naming the yearâs five best printsâ¦and then weâre gonna tell you which artist we thought was the yearâs âMost Vitalâ. Wanna find out who made the cut? Meet me after the jump, folks.Folks, by now you should know what weâre here to do (see the links above if youâd like to get caught up, or to read more about how we determined which 20 prints would end up making our list), so letâs not waste a lot of time getting sidetracked with pointless chit-chat. Youâre here to find out which five prints we considered the yearâs best, and weâre here to tell you which artist we thought turned out the most consistently great, must-own work. Sounds like weâve both got a job to do, so letâs do it, starting with the yearâs fifth-best screenprint:5. Tyler StoutâReservoir Dogs (Variant)Tyler Stoutâa name so well-recognized in the world of poster-collecting that itâs frequently used in eBay auction titles that have nothing to do with Tyler Stoutâs workâhas long-since cemented his status as one of the greatest living screenprint/poster artists. Even if youâd quibble with that (who are you?), youâll probably agree that heâs certainly one of the greatest artists to have produced work under the Mondo umbrella.In fact, Iâll submit the following theory: itâs probably fair to suggest that there are now more people that have â at the very least-- seen a Mondo poster somewhere than there are those who havenât, and Iâd be willing to bet that when those people picture or describe a Mondo poster to someone later, theyâre picturing something by Tyler Stout.  Thatâs how impactful Stout has been on the industry, and how integral heâs been to the building of the Mondo brand.Did we see as many new Stout prints in 2012 as we wouldâve hoped weâd see this year? Eh, perhaps not. Is that a bit of a bummer? Sure. But the artists whose work I love arenât the same guys who seem able to pump out a new poster every other week: theyâre meticulous and thoughtful, determined to keep me (and every other fan who worships at their feet) on their toes with clever layouts and images weâd be proud to hang on our walls. The result, of course, is that their work is always a cut above the competition, and thus worth the wait. Case in point? Stoutâs Reservoir Dogs. I dunno how long it took Stout to create this piece, but if we had to go a few extra months without a new Stout in order to get it, I can live with that.4. Olly MossâLord of The RingsBy now, you donât need to be told how clever Olly Moss is, how striking his artwork is in person, how singular his presence is in Poster World (seriously: find me anyone whoâs producing similar-looking artwork thatâs even remotely similar in quality), or how good his Lord of The Rings printâa late addition to the Top 20 Posters of 2012 listâis. You already know all this.But look closer at this poster. Look for the little Gollum hidden on the swordâs hilt, right above the Fellowship. Consider how insanely crafty Moss had to be to factor all of these elements into a single image that wouldnât just make senseâ¦but would seem simple and bold. Take a look at the other Lord of The Rings-themed prints released by Mondo this year, and marvel at how effortlessly this poster seems to blow those out of the water (Limited Paper personal exception: I think Aaron Horkeyâs Return of The King variant is equal to Ollyâs piece).Olly Moss isânot to put too fine a point on itâa master.  Which makes it incredibly surreal when you meet him and realize that heâs pretty much just another twenty something British guy with a passion for video games, having a few beers, and watching genre movies until heâs blue in the face (or, in Ollyâs words, âjust another right cheeky bastardâ).  The guyâs talent is immeasurable and he released a number of great prints this year, but this oneâ¦this was the crown jewel, as far as Limited Paper was concerned.3. Ken Taylorâ20,000 Leagues Under The SeaWhen this poster was revealed allll the way back in the first quarter of 2012, it knocked everyone flat on their ass. Ken Taylorâan artist weâre convinced is Australiaâs way of saying âLook, weâre really sorry about Yahoo Serious (and, for that matter, the past 10 years of Russell Croweâs career)ââ didnât just knock this one out of the park: he knocked it into a neighboring star systemâ¦where a number of his posters ended up joining it throughout the year.Iâll go ahead and spoil the surprise now for anyone thatâs genuinely reading along: Ken Taylorâs our âMost Vital Artist, 2012â, and itâs posters like this (and a dozen other prints he released this year) that make it possible for us to make that announcement without having to put forth much of an argumentâjust look at that damn thing (pro-tip: if you turn a large blacklight on the variant edition of this print in a very dark room, the results are mindblowing enough to cause acid flashbacksâ¦even amongst those whoâve never even ingested LSD).2. Martin AnsinâBrazilWhen Mondo opened up the Mondo Gallery back during SXSW 2012, most people had no idea what to expect. Some had seen the outside of the place and had a good idea about the size of its interior, but what sort of new posters were they gonna open the joint with? A big clue arrived in the form of the VIP invitations that went out a few weeks before the galleryâs opening: on the front of those cards was one of the ear-slugs from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khanâ¦and it had been drawn by Tyler Stout. A Star Trek-themed show, perhaps? An all-Tyler-Stout extravaganza? Maybe a Ricardo Montolban blow-out (a âMontolblow-outâ)?As it turned out, the show was sci-fi themed (ohhhh,yeahâ¦that makes much more sense), and featured what wasâat the timeâthe greatest number of new posters ever released by Mondo at the same time on the same day. That even was memorable for any number of firsts (the first time I met a few of my favorite Mondo artists in-person; the first time a giant line that formed outside the gallery days in advance; the first time I dropped over $1,000 at a gallery event), but Iâll never forget it as the place where I first saw Ansinâs Brazil poster.Because of the line out front, those of us attending the âPress Openingâ were ushered in through the back a few hours prior to the public opening, which meant that we were looking at the layout of the gallery backwards: up front, Stoutâs Wrath of Khan was set to be the first thing attendees would see upon entering, but from our perspectiveâ¦Ansinâs Brazil was the first print I saw upon entering that back door. It literally stopped me in my tracks, and in the months since Iâve spent an absurd amount of time looking at it from my office desk, gobsmacked by the perfection of its layout and the richness of its colors.Thereâs been some concern lately about Ansinâs style evolving to feel more painterly and less illustrated. Brazil seems to be the poster that landed in-between these two phases, and seems like the perfect mixture of styles to me. If heâs determined to come down on one side or the other, I hope heâll return to the bold, flowing linework that marked posters like his Bride of Frankenstein or Draculaâ¦but even if he doesnât, this was a helluva way to usher out the old and bring in the new. A gorgeous piece that should be on every collectorâs wall.1. Ken TaylorâHalloweenWeâre going to be talking about Ken Taylorâs work even more here in just a second, but for now letâs focus our attentions on this print, Taylorâs poster for John Carpenterâs 1978 horror classic, Halloween. This printâas youâll surely recallâwas only available at a special screening of that film (which benefited the Deborah Hill Foundation) that was held in Los Angeles by the Mondo guys all the way back in October. In other words, it was incredible difficult for the average collector to get their hands on, a fact thatâif weâre being honestâonly adds to the posterâs overall attractiveness.The work Taylor turned in here is pitch-perfect: creepy and menacing without being gory or overtly violent, classy without being too stark, jam-packed with personality without being crammed with characters (just look at those leaves!). Taylorâs Halloween is a poster so good, it seems to declare a moratorium on any future Halloween posters. Who could possibly need another take on this film after Taylorâs version?There was some debate (amongst our tiny panel of judges) as to whether or not Taylorâs 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea shouldâve made this spot instead. The crew was about half-and-half on the issue, and I served as the tie-breaker: depending on my mood, they probably are interchangeable, but reallyâ¦once youâre in the top five on a list like this, virtually any of the picks might move around. The tiny difference here is that we knew Taylor genuinely deserved the number one spot based on his invaluable contribution to the poster industry this yearâ¦which is why Iâm also naming Ken Taylor as Limited Paperâs Most Vital Artist, 2012.Naming someone as the yearâs âBest Artistâ is even sillier than naming the yearâs âTop 20 Postersâ: itâs so subjective that it borders on ludicrous to even write such an opinion up. Sure, if everyone else were writing up their picks for the âYearâs Best Artistâ, maybe then itâd make sense to have my sayâ¦but as far as I know, thatâs not happening, which made it feel weird to go forward with that title. Sooner or later, I realized a fill-in-the-blank question could finally work this out. I told myself, âI may not think Ken Taylorâs the âbestâ artist on this top 20, but I do think heâs theâ¦what?âThatâs when it all clicked. From where Iâm standing, Ken Taylor was the most vital artist of 2012, the guy whoâmore often than notâdropped prints that your collection couldnât be complete without. There were several stretches in 2012 where it felt like Taylor may have actually started taking artistic steroids: his posters have always been high-quality, eye-catching, and popular amongst collectors, but this year Taylor stepped up his game in epic, thrilling, not-to-be-missed ways. It was impossible not to notice, and whenâon top of everything else heâd done this year-- Taylorâs Halloween became one of Quarter Fourâs most sought-after prints, it seemed inevitable heâd take our top spot for the year. The Gremlins poster weâve got pictured above, by the way, isnât from 2012: that one actually dropped at a screening held by the Mondo guys last Christmas, butâlooking backâone wonders if we shouldnât have taken that as a sign of things to come: in retrospect, the Gremlins poster is so strong that it seems to suggest that Taylor was either deeply energized and/or inspired by the materialâ¦or perhaps he was just flexing his artistic muscles, giving us a glimpse of the work he was prepared to churn out during the year ahead? I mean, letâs be clear: Taylorâs always been a badass (See Also: his Aliens piece, above, which was released back in 2009; Iâd be willing to trade some serious shit for a copy of this if youâve got one lying aroundâ¦hint, hint, readers), but his 2012 output showcased a guy firing on all cylinders way more often than any of his contemporaries were.  He dominated entire stretches of the year with prints like Drive, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, his Tarantino âcollageâ, and more than a few amazing gig posters. Entire ISO lists were dedicated to his work (and I should know).Bottom line? Ken Taylor killed it this year, and we canât wait for him to rock all of our lame asses with whatever heâs got planned for 2013. Congratulations, Ken: you can stop by and pick up your trophy from Limited Paper HQ next time youâre in Austin. If you are, in fact, Australiaâs way of apologizing for Young Einstein and A Good Year, tell the Australian PM all is forgiven (Croweâs singing during Les Mis, however, might require that you knock out a Bladerunner poster for us or something).That about does it, folks! As always, you can sound off in the comments below if youâve got something important to add, orâif youâre an artist or gallery with artwork youâd like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if youâre just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansinâs house) --you can email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com. Be sure that youâre following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more (our 1,000 follower giveaway oughtta be coming up soon)! Oh, and between you and me: Iâve got one last giveaway to announce this year, but only youâre gonna know about thatâno one else reads to the bottom. Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow afternoon.
Limited Paper: We Pick 2012’s Top 5 Posters and Name the Year’s “Most Vital Artist”
Limited Paper: We Pick 2012’s Top 5 Greatest Posters which include Tyler Stout, Ken Taylor and Olly Moss. Plus We Name the Year’s “Most Vital Artist”