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Chuck Sperry
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Born in 1962, Chuck Sperry is one of the world's premier rock-poster artists, creating iconic images for bands like Pearl Jam and Widespread Panic. In addition to limited-edition screenprints for these and many other bands and performers, Sperry...
Born in 1962, Chuck Sperry is one of the world's premier rock-poster artists, creating iconic images for bands like Pearl Jam and Widespread Panic. In addition to limited-edition screenprints for these and many other bands and performers, Sperry also makes art prints on a variety of papers and wood panels.
Sperry's work contains a range of influences, from the political cartoons Mike Peters, a family friend and early mentor in Dayton, Ohio, to the work he would do from 1985 to 1989 as a co-editor of World War 3 Illustrated, a political comic published in New York City. The rock-poster scene in San Francisco also figures prominently in Sperry's work. In 1989, he moved to the city, settling into the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where he still lives. In addition to the psychedelic aesthetic, Sperry's work also hearkens back to Art Nouveau graphics and the decorative wallpaper patterns of William Morris and other Victorian designers.
The artist's big break in his new home town came in 1994, when he produced the first of many posters for concerts at the Fillmore and Warfield, two popular venues in San Francisco. That same year, he co-founded a group called Psychic Sparkplug, which made posters for various events, mostly music related. By 1997, Psychic Sparkplug was reorganized and renamed the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, after its location in a former firehouse. Since 2012, Sperry has been working independently out of a space called Hangar 18 in Oakland.
Over the years, Sperry has produced rock posters, each of which is produced as a limited-edition screenprint, for an incredibly diverse range of performers. He's done posters for Bob Dylan, the Jerry Garcia estate, The Who, Dave Matthews Band, the Black Keys, and Eric Clapton, but four posters for Widespread Panic are considered by many to be his breakthroughs. The first of his so-called "Panic Ladies" appeared in November 2009 for a show at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rendered in tones of brown, gold, orange, and red, the piece has a distinctly autumnal feeling to it. Next came a spring poster, a riot of greens and yellow, for a show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in March 2010. The winter poster in the series came at the end of the year for a run of New Year's Eve shows in Denver, and a summer poster followed in July 2011 for a concert at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
From that point on, Sperry developed his visual vocabulary around the female form and layers of pattern and decoration, often mining the myths of Greek muses for his pieces. By removing the typography on his rock posters, Sperry gave his imagery a second life in the form of screenprints on paper and wood panels for the art market, exhibiting these art prints at galleries such as Spoke Art in San Francisco and l’Oeil Ouvert Gallery in Paris. But Sperry has remained committed to the political work that launched his career. In particular, he has created numerous posters for events such as the Women's Marches that began in 2017.
Continue readingBorn in 1962, Chuck Sperry is one of the world's premier rock-poster artists, creating iconic images for bands like Pearl Jam and Widespread Panic. In addition to limited-edition screenprints for these and many other bands and performers, Sperry also makes art prints on a variety of papers and wood panels.
Sperry's work contains a range of influences, from the political cartoons Mike Peters, a family friend and early mentor in Dayton, Ohio, to the work he would do from 1985 to 1989 as a co-editor of World War 3 Illustrated, a political comic published in New York City. The rock-poster scene in San Francisco also figures prominently in Sperry's work. In 1989, he moved to the city, settling into the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where he still lives. In addition to the psychedelic aesthetic, Sperry's work also hearkens back to Art Nouveau graphics and the decorative wallpaper patterns of William Morris and other Victorian designers.
The artist's big break in his new home town came in 1994, when he produced the first of many posters for concerts at the Fillmore and Warfield, two popular venues in San Francisco. That same year, he co-founded a group called Psychic Sparkplug, which made posters for various events, mostly music related. By 1997, Psychic Sparkplug was reorganized and renamed the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, after its location in a former firehouse. Since 2012, Sperry has been working independently out of a space called Hangar 18 in Oakland.
Over the years, Sperry has produced rock posters, each of which is produced as a limited-edition screenprint, for an incredibly diverse range of performers. He's done posters for Bob Dylan, the Jerry Garcia estate, The Who, Dave Matthews Band, the Black Keys, and Eric Clapton, but four posters for Widespread Panic are considered by many to be his breakthroughs. The first of his so-called "Panic Ladies" appeared in November 2009 for a show at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rendered in...
Born in 1962, Chuck Sperry is one of the world's premier rock-poster artists, creating iconic images for bands like Pearl Jam and Widespread Panic. In addition to limited-edition screenprints for these and many other bands and performers, Sperry also makes art prints on a variety of papers and wood panels.
Sperry's work contains a range of influences, from the political cartoons Mike Peters, a family friend and early mentor in Dayton, Ohio, to the work he would do from 1985 to 1989 as a co-editor of World War 3 Illustrated, a political comic published in New York City. The rock-poster scene in San Francisco also figures prominently in Sperry's work. In 1989, he moved to the city, settling into the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where he still lives. In addition to the psychedelic aesthetic, Sperry's work also hearkens back to Art Nouveau graphics and the decorative wallpaper patterns of William Morris and other Victorian designers.
The artist's big break in his new home town came in 1994, when he produced the first of many posters for concerts at the Fillmore and Warfield, two popular venues in San Francisco. That same year, he co-founded a group called Psychic Sparkplug, which made posters for various events, mostly music related. By 1997, Psychic Sparkplug was reorganized and renamed the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, after its location in a former firehouse. Since 2012, Sperry has been working independently out of a space called Hangar 18 in Oakland.
Over the years, Sperry has produced rock posters, each of which is produced as a limited-edition screenprint, for an incredibly diverse range of performers. He's done posters for Bob Dylan, the Jerry Garcia estate, The Who, Dave Matthews Band, the Black Keys, and Eric Clapton, but four posters for Widespread Panic are considered by many to be his breakthroughs. The first of his so-called "Panic Ladies" appeared in November 2009 for a show at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rendered in tones of brown, gold, orange, and red, the piece has a distinctly autumnal feeling to it. Next came a spring poster, a riot of greens and yellow, for a show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in March 2010. The winter poster in the series came at the end of the year for a run of New Year's Eve shows in Denver, and a summer poster followed in July 2011 for a concert at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
From that point on, Sperry developed his visual vocabulary around the female form and layers of pattern and decoration, often mining the myths of Greek muses for his pieces. By removing the typography on his rock posters, Sperry gave his imagery a second life in the form of screenprints on paper and wood panels for the art market, exhibiting these art prints at galleries such as Spoke Art in San Francisco and l’Oeil Ouvert Gallery in Paris. But Sperry has remained committed to the political work that launched his career. In particular, he has created numerous posters for events such as the Women's Marches that began in 2017.
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Wish you'd visited San Francisco in the late 1960s? Get a quick hit with this comprehensive...
USSR Posters
Ben Perry's Flickr photoset showcasing almost 1500 Soviet propaganda, advertising, theatre and...
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