-"To make 2,3, many
Vietnams" was the only OSPAAAL poster made of Che Guevara
while he was alive. The pictures in the poster were taken when
he was fighting in Congo.
-In the early years, OSPAAAL posters were made in 3 different
languages. Later they realized that money was saved and distribution
easier if they include the text inside the poster in 4
languages.
-In 1967, OSPAAAL starts publishing the magazine "Tricontinental".First
edition was 50000 copies: 25000 in spanish, 15000 in english and
10000 in french (later they introduced arabic) Subscribers received
the magazine with a small folded
poster inside: this is how the OSPAAAL poster was born.
-Artistic design at OSPAAAL was directed by Alfredo Rostgaard.
He still lives in Havana.
-Rostgaard was the creator of the "anti-ad", a well
used resource in the early years of OSPAAAL. They will use elements
of capitalistic publicity in favor of revolutionary ideas. See
Ethiopian Airlines.
-Another strong element used by Rostgaard and others is the japanese
"origami".When
the origami is open, the inside is a transformation in favor of
revolutionary ideas.
-The arabic text in many of the posters was draw by the artist
because they did not have the special equipment to write arabics.
The same happened to Japanese posters.See Japanese
solidarity.
-From a total of 102 posters produced between 1966 and 1968, 18
were printed in just one language.
-Cristo Guerrillero,by Rostgaard
is one of the most important OSPAAAL posters and was made from
a painting. It was made in honor of Camilo Torres, a colombian
priest killed in combat in 1966. The image itself, half religious,
half revolutionary was not well taken by cuban authorities and
most copies were destroyed. Another fact about Cristo Guerrilero
is that the text was printed in the reverse side of the poster
to protect the conceptual message of the image that does not need
letters for comunication.
-At the end of the 70's, begining 80s, OSPAAAL artists start experimenting
with what they called "Cartel maqueta"
or maquette poster. They used photographic props and tridimentional
images to carry the messages.