Scary Soviet-Style Art

[elfs]

Take a look at this:

Hosted by Flickr!. Click to enlarge.

First reported on Articulary Loop, this unabashed homage to "Soviet Realist" art is not a parody, it's a real security poster put up by the Maryland Rail Commission to remind riders on the MARC commuter rail service between Baltimore and Washington D.C. to be alert for suspicious packages and persons.

I suspect the designer was having a field day with his superiors. This might be right up there with the goatse'ing of Time.

Comments

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I LOVE that... :-)

[solarbird]

One hell of a poster, though, you have to admit. Gorgeous.

Also

[solarbird]

While this is clearly Soviet - I've seen the seminal poster the guy is thinking of, even ^_^ - this style, generically, was popular throughout the Western world in the 20s and 30s. The Soviets stayed with it much longer than everyone else - hell, if you look at late Soviet architecture, as in, stuff built in the 80s, you'll still see Deco styling, in an only mildly evolved form. It's amazing how much got shut down in the Soviet era - in some ways, it was profoundly conservative, at least in the sense of "unchanging."

Re: Also

[mo-hair.livejournal.com]

my first reaction was to think "how very ayn rand!" (ala atlas shrugged.) i could picture it hanging in one of the train stations she wrote about.

Re: Also

[solarbird]

Exact same era; obsessed with the exact same topics and struggle. Nicely spotted; well done. ^_^

Rand was born in Russia in 1905

[shunra.livejournal.com]

I'd say that she pretty much grew up swimming in the ocean that led to the very same type of Soviet art...

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Apparently the poster is a haox produced by a trainspotting group. (Unless someone has pictures to prove otherwise.)