This image first appeared in “Art of Rock, 2.22,” and was a poster for the Young Bloods at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, February 7th-9th, 1969.

Brian Chambers is a collector, curator, producer and owner of The Chambers Project based in Grass Valley, CA. Since 1995 Brian has been committed and focused on psychedelic art and culture and has built long standing relationships with Godfathers of the scene such as Ralph Steadman, Roger Dean and the Estate of Rick Griffin while also working with contemporary titans of the scene such as Mars-1, Oliver Vernon and MEAR ONE. Chambers is widely known for his patronizing work with the Furtherrr Collective crew of collaborators Mars-1, Oliver Vernon, Damon Soule, David Choong Lee and Nome Edonna. The current show at The Chambers Project is titled "TOGETHERRR" and is a retrospective chronicling 13 years of collaborative works with Furtherrr and the paintings on display in the gallery are all works from the Furtherrr Collective. TOGETHERRR opened on March 11 and will run through the end of May.

This bio is from rickgriffindesigns.com, the official site of Rick Griffin’s artworks:

Richard Alden Griffin was born June 18th 1944. Rick grew up in Los Angeles in the 1950’s, reading and collecting comic books and watching Disney animations. His first experience with EC comics happened when his dad gave him a dime to go into the drug store and buy a comic book. In June of 1962 Rick graduated from Palos Verdes High School and that summer his character “Murphy” made it out from the pages and onto the cover of Surfer Magazine.

Rick settled down in San Francisco at the onset of the hippy, music scene that was about to explode. Rick created one of his first psychedelic rock posters, for the Jook Savages Art Show. Followed by his next poster, for the “Human Be-In” in Golden Gate Park, January 14, 1967, kicking of the ‘Summer of Love.’

Rick used a style of lettering on the first posters he designed in San Francisco, but his lettering became more visually exaggerated as psychedelics influenced his creative style, culminating in an exceptional way to attract the viewer’s eye.

From the first black and white posters, Rick’s work quickly grew into a merging of colors, symbols and extreme typography. The legendary, Jimi Hendrix “Flying Eyeball” BG-105, 1968 poster is probably one of Rick’s most sought after posters for its iconic, psychedelic Rick Griffin imagery and coloring. He continued to create art for The Grateful Dead, and newer bands like The Cult.

The posters would get stapled up on telephone poles up and down Haight Street.

Rick, ever influenced by his immediate reality, created artwork full of symbolic representation of life and death and birth, all within a surfers paradise of sunshine, blue skies and the bursting forth of life.

Rick did not survive an accident when his Harley Heritage Softail met with the side of a van on a sunny afternoon, on a country road in Petaluma, California. The last piece of art Rick created was for “The City,” a local San Francisco magazine. The image was of an artist kneeling at the pearly gates of heaven to meet his maker holding his quill and inkwell.

Rick’s legacy lives on. Not everyone recognizes this legendary, American artist by name, but most recognize some of his most iconic images. Those that do know him by name, even if they never met him, will usually share how his work deeply affected and inspired them.

Materials: Bronze

Dimensions: 15' tall, 18' wingspan

Weight: 22 lbs

NO RESERVE

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