“VHS Video Cover Art” both a nostalgic trip & celebration of under-appreciated artists

vhs - cover art
I’m not the biggest fan of Tom ‘The Dude Designs’ Hodge‘s work on posters – the bubbly, neon ’80s stuff has always felt far too busy to me. He’s basically the antithesis to Drew Struzan. Struzan’s work is clean, uncluttered, and offers up just enough to stir your interest, whereas I’ve always felt that Hodge’s art tries to fit the entire plot to the movie within a one-sheet’s 27×40 dimensions.

That said: the work from which Hodge draws his inspiration shows that the artist has deep taste. His new book for Schiffer Publishing, VHS Video Cover Art, is a treasure trove of astounding and astonishing VHS cover art from the ’80s and early ’90s. These painted covers are what drew so many of us into the stranger sections of the video store as kids. As so many documentarians have pointed out, VHS covers needed something to make them stand out, and those covers were a prime way of maximizing their appeal on the video store shelf.
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