Rick Griffin

2-Print Set - Can't Quite Putcher Finger Onit + Cosmic Surfer

RUN #:	02116set
Type:	1-Color Screen Print on Arches 88 Cotton Rag Paper with Deckled Edges
Size:	22 x 30 Inches
Release:	June 18, 2018
Run of:	50
Auth:	This RUN comes endorsed by the Griffin estate and embossed with the Griffin estate stamp, and also includes a Letter of Provenance from 1xRUN.

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IN THIS COLLECTION:
Man From Utopia

5 Artworks0 Available

ABOUT THIS ART:

Due to sizing, this RUN does not include a standard framing option. For special inquiries regarding oversized framing email support@1xrun.com.

Note: This 2-Print Set pulls from each respective edition of 50.

Presented in partnership with The Chambers Project and The Griffin Estate, 1xRUN is excited to offer these extremely rare editions in limited quantities.

"Both editions feature artwork that was originally published in 1972 as part of Rick Griffin's "Man From Utopia.". Amongst Griffin heads it is considered to be his Magnum Opus and some of his best, most abstract work. Done during his most psychedelic years and purely out of self interest, both images are very iconic and translate very well in this larger format." - Brian Chambers

"In 1966, Rick Griffin moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and began shifting away from producing cartoons for Surfer magazine, which insisted on censoring his work, and towards designing rock music posters in San Francisco, which was a new genre of art that was all the rage in the counterculture. By 1967, Griffin was recognized along with Wes Wilson, Stanley "Mouse" Miller, Alton Kelley and Victor Moscoso as the "Big Five" artists who set the creative direction for psychedelic American rock posters...

...Man from Utopia is first and foremost a remarkable collection Griffin's most beautifully composed illustrations, which include recurring icons far removed from Christianity. Hearts, roses, pussies, light bulbs, aliens and skulls flourish throughout the book, embedded in Griffin's complex, sharp-edged ink lines. Despite the lack of a specific story or defined narrative in Man from Utopia, the drawings feel like they are thematically connected, delivering precious lessons for those who are patient enough to absorb the entire scope of their message." - M. Steven Fox of Comix Joint

Read more about this special edition at news.1xRUN.com...

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Rick Griffin was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in Zap Comix. Griffin was closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing some of their best-known posters and album covers such as Aoxomoxoa. His work within the surfing subculture included both film posters and his comic strip, Murphy.

ABOUT Rick Griffin:

Rick Griffin was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in Zap Comix. Griffin was closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing some of their best-known posters and album covers such as Aoxomoxoa. His work within the surfing subculture included both film posters and his comic strip, Murphy.

While attending Nathaniel Narbonne High School in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles, he produced numerous surfer drawings, which led to his surfing comic strip, "Murphy" for Surfer magazine in 1961, with Griffin's character featured on the front cover the following year. In 1964, he left Surfer and briefly attended Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts), where he met his future wife, artist Ida Pfefferle.

That same year, he hung out with the group of artists and musicians known as the Jook Savages. He traveled with Ida on a Mexican surfing trip and later planned a move to San Francisco after seeing the psychedelic rock posters designed by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. In late 1966, the couple arrived in San Francisco, where they first lived in their van before moving to Elsie Street in the Bernal Heights district.

In the mid-1960s, he participated in Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. His first art exhibition was for the Jook Savages, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Psychedelic Shop on Haight Street. Organizers for the Human Be-In saw his work and asked him to design a poster for their January 1967 event. Chet Helms was also impressed by Griffin's work and asked him to design posters for the Family Dog dance concerts at the Avalon Ballroom, which led Griffin to create concert posters for the Charlatans. In 1967, Griffin, Kelley, Mouse, Victor Moscoso and Wes Wilson teamed as the founders of Berkeley Bonaparte, a company that created and marketed psychedelic posters. Griffin returned to Southern California in 1969, eventually settling in San Clemente.