Jay Shaw

Some contemporary film posters are just fancy advertisements. Jay Shaw’s film posters are works of art. Shaw is one of several artists who create original film posters for Mondo; the Austin, Texas-based company produces lush, limited-edition, screen-printed posters of movies new and classic — several of which are featured in Christie’s online sale of vintage film posters through 11 December. In Shaw’s designs, showcasing the action hero’s muscles or the starlet’s face isn’t important. He prefers distilling a film into a single sharp, essential, artistic image. Christie’s spoke with Shaw about his life and his creative process, and why he won’t be illustrating children’s movies any time soon.