CSO MusicNOW — Common Ground Poster

Online exclusive! This product is sourced from a third-party vendor and will ship separately from the rest of your purchase.

Designed in celebration of CSO MusicNOW's 25th season, Common Ground is the second in a set of four posters by Chicago artist Donovan Foote inspired by the unique programming of this series.

Artist Statement —

The goal for each poster was to create something consisting of all or some of the program’s featured instruments. For Common Ground, the instrument depicted is assembled from two violins at slightly different angles with a paper double-bass headstock. To suggest the traditional fiddle sounds heard in Mark O’Connor’s and Xavier Foley’s music, other collage elements frame the instrument in Celtic knotwork and an Appalachian landform map, as well as stars and stripes. The final image, like the program’s music, feels familiar but modern.

Donovan Foote is a local artist, illustrator and graphic designer with a passion for blending contemporary aesthetics and retro timelessness. He specializes in the interaction of type and image while producing work in many mediums. His work employs the intricacy of the ink-painted line, the beautiful grit of paint and collage, the imperfections of hand-lettering and the use of fantastically detailed illustrations to animate an idea. Over the years, he has worked with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Theatre School at DePaul University, instrument manufacturer Conn-Selmer and the Chicago International Film Festival. As an amateur musician who enjoys building instruments, he is pleased to present these posters for the 25th season of CSO MusicNOW.