MATCH BOOKS Used by Joseph Martinez to Create His Original Oil Paintings As Mini Works of Pocket Fine Art!

Joseph Martinez Oil Painting using the inside covers of match books as his canvas!
Joseph Martinez Oil Painting using the inside covers of match books as his canvas!

A fascinating re-purposing of Paper match books that are used by the artist Joseph Martinez to create original life like oil paintings as mini works of pocket fine art!

Check out the video montage of Joseph's fascinating work on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/61005800

To order your business' own little work of art goto: TheMatchGroup or call one of our Match Mavens at 800.605.7331 to design your branded match books.


TheMatchGroup is Proud to Announce the Launch of It's New Pinterest Page -Featuring It's Collection of Vintage Matches and Pics of Their Client's Matches!

TheMatchGroup is Proud to Launch It's New Pinterest Get Matches Page! So Check it out!
TheMatchGroup's Boards on Pinterest

Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book
Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book

Every week we'll be featuring the best in Vintage Match Book covers, as well as our "Board of Fame" featuring a range of whimsical and uniquely designed TheMatchGroup clients' matches!

Since we at TheMatchGroup are long time match collectors, it was natural for us to curate our Pinterest "Boards" by advertising themes such as:

Automotive Themed Advertising MatchesPontiacMatchBook

European and Communist Vintage Match Box Labels

DANISH MODERN FURNITURE Vintage Match Box Label
DANISH MODERN FURNITURE Vintage Match Box Label

FEATURE MATCH BOOKS (Special Custom Printed Match Stems Feature Match Book with Printed Match Stems

Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, etc. Casino Matches Vegas Sahara Match Book

Matches In History and Match Manufacturing Matchgirls Protesting

Matches Referenced in Music Lyrics, Band's Posters & Album CoversModest Mouse Match Poster

Matches Used In ArtThe Shining's Jack Nicholson

VINTAGE ADVERTISING MATCH BOOKS & MATCH BOXESConey Island Destination Match

Vintage Match Stock Cut Art
Home Cooking Stock Cut Art

VINTAGE PIN UP MATCHES

"Exotic Girls"
"Exotic Girls"

World War II Propaganda Matches

O-K America Let's Go WW II Propaganda Matchbook
O-K America Let's Go WW II Propaganda Matchbook

and of course a very special Board featuring OUR CLIENT'S Matches Produced by yours truly, TheMatchGroup!TheMatchGroup's Match Clients' PortfolioMaloney & Porcelli 30 stem Book Match

Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book
Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book

So be sure to get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” and call our team at TheMatchGroup 800.605.7331 to design your business's functional business cards, otherwise known as advertising matches!


LIGHT MY FIRE: THE MATCH BOOK MAKES A CULTURAL COMEBACK

FAST COMPANY article from February 4, 2011 Light My Fire: The Match Book Makes a Cultural Comeback

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LIGHT MY FIRE: THE match book MAKES A CULTURAL COMEBACK.

Great feature about the resurgence of match books that are now being used by the entertainment and retailing industries to promote their bands and their brands!

AS THE SMOKE CLEARS FROM BARS AND RESTAURANTS, MATCHBOOKS FIND NEW INDUSTRIES -- FROM FASHION TO MUSIC -- TO CALL HOME.

Juicy Couture has had original designs created to sell in stores, and music venues. Many Indie, Hip Hop and Rock Bands have started handing matchbooks out at gigs out in place of pricey T-shirts.

"Fire speaks so instantly to life," says Yael Alkalay, founder of Red Flower, a New York bath-and-body company. After suffering a stroke more than a decade ago at age 26, Alkalay recovered and started the company with a newfound appreciation for the everyday. Aside from coupling matches with the purchase of candles, Red Flower hands out 50,000 matchbooks to customers each year as mementos of the store. "Matches have a certain charm," she says. "If you've got them, you've got light, you've got warmth."

To place your order to put a light on your business or band get in touch with TheMatchGroup or call one of our expert match makers at 800.605.7331 and get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” that's happening right now!


Beck Hansen's (The Rock Musician) Book About His Grandfather, The Artist Al Hansen Titled: "Beck & Al Hansen Playing With Matches"

Beck Hansen's (Rock Musician) Book About His Grandfather, The Artist Al Hansen Titled:

    • Beck & Al Hansen Playing With

Matches

 

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1960's Fluxus Art Movement founded by Beck's Grandfather Al Hansen, was based upon the repurposing of ordinary junk & detritus and the creation of art that took the form of wave forms, and model towers created using burnt matches and match books, cigarette butts, old envelopes, used Hershey Bar wrappers, old envelopes, German beer coasters, found print advertising, erotica and politics held together with glue.

Al Hansen also wrote performative texts and intermedia poems from stream-of-consciousness remembrances of war and peace influenced by John Cage to instructions of "Happenings", or "Crazy Theatre" that Al founded in the late 50's. In the late '60's he collaborated with Andy Warhol and John Lennon.
With input from Yoko Ono he devised a Fluxus performance that involved pushing a piano off a high roof and recording the sound of hitting the ground and called it the Yoko Ono Drop. The act of pushing the piano off the roof of a building would seem to be a Happening/Event Art and the recording of it's impact and selling cassettes would be Fluxus.

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PlayingwithMatches_ImageA

Al transformed the ordinary detritus of consumer society turning the images back on themselves to better re-evaluate their contrived beauty

Beck Hansen's music is an extension of and is greatly influenced by his Grandfather's work. The song on his 90's album Odelay "Two turntables and a Microphone" is the audio equivalent of his Grandfather's cut and paste collages. Through the use of music samples and jumbled vocals, Beck's music places a spotlight on the imperfection and transience of all that is tangible and intangible.

If you would like to order your business' work of modern match art please check out the "Hot Match on Striker Action" at :TheMatchGroup or call one of our match artists in residence at 800.605.7331 to create your unique & collectible branded matches!


 PINUP GIRL ADVERTISING MATCHBOOKS

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PINUP GIRL ADVERTISING MATCHBOOKS

Believe it or not, the pinup girl genre dates way back to the 1860's!

They made their first appearance on advertising matches in the 1930's and gained popularity during World War II when the image of a gorgeous girl temporarily took the soldiers' mind off the war by acting as their only link to their world back home.
Their selection of pinup's took the form of a lithographed pinup calendar, an advertising matchbook, or a print ad that featured a pinup that was torn out of an American or European magazine. Most GI's in the service had their favorite taped inside their footlocker lid.

These fantasy women were first known as 'Petty Girls', named after the artist George Petty, which were popularized by Esquire Magazine's ribald cartoons during the 1940's and 50's. The depictions of scantily clad and voluptuous women were featured in magazine calendars, centerfolds, cartoons, advertisements for cigarettes and cars and many were painted on WW II warplanes!

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In the late 1950's and early '60's the attitude and fashion of vintage pinup girls went mainstream quickly moving from the centerfold straight to the front cover. Millions of advertising matches were distributed by every category of business that ran the gamut from Gas Stations, Bars, Restaurants, Hotels/Motels, Florists, Jewelers, Retailers, Trucking Companies, Car Companies, etc. The advertisements were initially drawn with illustrations by renowned pin up artists Rolf Armstrong, and Gil Elvgren and Vargas. Later photos of real models and movies featured pin up girls in their provocative poses and fashions. Marilyn Monroe who was Earl Morans' favorite model before and after she became a movie star, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, Esther Williams, Jane Mansfield and last but not least; the "edgier" Miss Bettie Page
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Pin up fashion and art has proven to be resilient. Over the past several years independent burlesque troupes have exhibited at mainstream venues in every major city, as well as a resurgence of Rockabilly fashion, Retro "Hot Rod" magazine style pin up fashion in which many young people mix with their interests in music, hair styles, tattoos, hot rod culture and retro motorcycle fashion

Pinup girls, pinup art along with pinup style and pinup fashion's resurgence has been confirmed by being featured once again in movies and magazine ads, as well as being adopted by pop singers like Katy Perry, among other celebrities like the cult figure Dita Von Teese.

New books and related images are being published featuring the great artists of the past. Original paintings are highly sought after and commanding sale prices that reach into the ten of thousands of dollars at auction! This wonderful American art form hasn’t received this much attention, or enjoyed as much popularity since it’s heyday from the 30’s to the 50’s.

To order your own pin Up matches to promote your business be sure to get in touch with TheMatchGroup or call one of our experienced "match makers" at 800.605.7331.