Barbarella 1968

Robert McGinnis made this Barbarella poster, and, wow, what a process! I mean, look at how those colors pop; it’s like he’s not just painting, but exploding with pinks and purples and oranges. McGinnis' colours and shapes give you all the information you need, and you feel it as much as see it. It's a masterclass in image-making! There’s a tension between representation and flatness, those circles behind her head, for example. It's easy to forget how radical this kind of thing was at the time. Each element plays its part, and that purple background makes the whole thing electric, right? It reminds me a little of Alex Katz, in the way that it borrows from commercial images, only to be reborn in a more sophisticated context. But ultimately, this poster is all Robert McGinnis – totally unique, iconic, and absolutely unforgettable.