Ottobar Cat

Baltimore is a city known for its music scene, due in no small part to the presence of the Ottobar, a concert venue Rolling Stone named one of the "Ten Best Live Music Venues in America." When the COVID-19 pandemic forced event spaces to close down, local artists rallied to support the Ottobar, which had recently changed owners and was in danger of closing permanently. One such artist was Alex Fine, a Baltimore illustrator with a long history of working with the venue. Alex has been designing posters for the Ottobar since he was a MICA student in the early 2000s, and has also performed there many times as a musician. 

Alex contributed this design as a fundraiser for the venue in 2020, and screen prints were sold online through the Ottobar's website. The poster is typical of Alex's style, featuring clean lines, subtle textures, and simple but expressive faces. Cats, musicians, and wild, flowing hair are also mainstays of his work. Alex describes the intention of the piece as "the cat (representing Ottobar) being larger than life, embodying the music being played by the guitarist. The fluid lines of the cat’s fur connecting with the guitarist’s hair are meant to visually connect the two."