Ion minded? Army apprentices school

Place Oceania: Australia
Accession Number ARTV10126
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 54.6 x 67.4 cm; sheet: 50.3 x 63.4 cm
Object type Poster
Physical description screenprint on paper on linen
Maker Simkin, Richard
Unknown
Place made Australia
Date made May 1960
Conflict Army organisation period 1961-
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

'Ion minded?' is a strong historical document that indicates the change in approach to establishing the Australian Regular Army as a long term modern career option, with a focus on technology, science and travel. The poster is visually dynamic, using a restricted colour palette of bright, contrasting colours with bold headlines, to create an aesthetic synthesis of art with emerging modern promotional tactics. Accompanied by a cryptic, short and witty slogan, the poster presents the Army Apprentice School as an excellent steeping stone to a career for young men of character and adaptability that could be entrusted to protect Australian interests locally and abroad.

'Ion minded' demonstrates just this. In the upper right corner of the composition is a young male soldier, wearing a helmet. He is viewing a map of the world, while in the centre of the poster is a model rocket that appears to be made out of paper. By using what is traditionally a perceived as a mindless pastime for disinterested teenage boys, the poster links the picture of a paper rocket to its potential as a vital tool in military work. The graphics clearly target teenage boys to link their interests to the importance of the Army Apprentice School. The poster also adapts the imagery of the USA army, most clearly apparent in the helmet the soldier is wearing in the upper right hand corner. To contextualise this image into Australian pride and experience, a large image of the well known motif, the Rising Sun is a prominent feature of the poster.