An auburn-haired songstress holds a fawn.  Shocking magenta hair falls to the shoulders of a blue nude strapped with artillery.  A 1950s-model cop car rests peacefully at the bottom of the sea, washed in blues and purples revealing a silent white angel.  Each outstanding print on display represents a prominent rock band.  Each was created by Chuck Sperry.

In early 2011, Chuck Sperry, San Francisco artist and co-owner of Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, made an unprecedented donation to the Library’s Art, Music and Recreation Department of over one-hundred limited edition, hand-printed rock art posters.  Officially entitled, The Chuck Sperry Archive, this collection comprehensively documents the Goldenvoice Music Series (at the Regency and Warfield Theaters) from 2008 to present, as well as selected Firehouse productivity related to the cultural-life of San Francisco.

This collection is exciting in both use of color and variety of content. Each silkscreen print is comprised of up to sixteen colors, applied as individual layers. The pieces reference styles ranging from Japanese nishiki-e, Austrian Expressionism, 1960s psychedelia, to the provocative punk poster tradition of Sperry’s youth.  Musicians such as Neko Case, Danzig, Bad Religion, Nick Cave, Soundgarden and The Black Keys are represented, as are a talented group of Bay Area graphic artists (Ron Donovan, Alex Fischer, Gregg Gordon, Dave Hunter, Alan Hynes, Scott Johnson, Dennis Loren, Chris Shaw, Frank Zio, and Zoltron) who contributed to the Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster series under the art direction of Chuck Sperry.

High Volume will be on display on the Fourth Floor from Oct. 7^th, 2011 – January 6^th, 2012.  An opening reception will be held in the Latino/Hispanic Room on Thursday, Oct. 20th beginning at 6 p.m.

Photo Credit: Mike Abramson

This Friday is going to be all about celebrating the creative talent that has come out of the East Bay for the past decade. There are two shows opening this friday as part of the East Bay Express’ “Best of the East Bay” Party. “A Decade with No Name” and “If These Walls Could Talk.” Hangar 18 Artists – Emory Douglas, Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Chris Shaw, Alexandra Fischer, Reuben Rude, Dave Hunter, Alan Hynes, Jon-Paul Bail, Scott Johnson, Frank Zio and Zoltron – were invited to participate (see list and links below).

A Decade with no Name is going to be a group show of 22 artists who work in a variety of mediums. As the facebook event describes it: “multi-disciplinary look into the works currently being created in our collective backyard, “The Decade With No Name” serves as a celebration of the sculptors, painters, photographers and street artists who call Oakland, Berkeley and the greater East Bay their home.”

Pictures are borrowed from the artists websites.

Occurring simultaneously outdoors, “If These Walls Could Talk“ will feature a live showcase of aerosol art by Bay Area legends Chor Boogie, Apex and Eon75 with additional support from Los Angeles’ Dabs/Myla and Surge. All six artists will be working on live graffiti murals during the event.

The Hangar 18 artists will have a Poster Kiosk right across from the Graffiti Mural.

Check out the Facebook event for more details, this is all going on:

Jack London Square
Friday August 6th
5:00pm – 11:00pm

The Gallery is across from the Main Stage.

Participating Artists for “A Decade With No Name”:

Eddie Colla - http://eddiecolla.wordpress.com/
Zoltron - http://zoltron.com/
GATS - http://www.flickr.com/groups/graffitiagainstthesystem/
Ras Terms - http://www.myspace.com/rasterms
Monica Canilao - http://www.monicacanilao.com/
Meagan Donegan - http://meagandonegan.com/home.html
Annie Vought - http://annievought.com/
Scott Hove - http://www.mshove.com/
Peter Gronquist - http://www.petergronquist.com/
Owen Cook - http://theeowencook.com/
Brett Amory - http://www.brettamory.com/
Alika Cooper - http://www.alikacooper.com/
Brendan Monroe - http://www.brendanmonroe.com/
Aaron Nagel - http://www.aaronnagel.com/
Skinner - http://www.theartofskinner.com/
David D’Andrea - http://www.dvdandrea.com/
Dave Correia - http://www.playwithknives.com/
Jason Vivona - http://www.jasonvivona.com/
Deth P. Sun - http://www.dethpsun.com/
John Felix Arnold - http://www.theothersideofasmile.info/
Amanda Lopez - http://www.amandalopezphoto.com/
John Coyne - http://www.caughtinthescramble.com/

Poster Art / Hangar18 Showcase:
Emory Douglas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_Douglas
Chuck Sperry - http://chucksperry.net/
Ron Donovan - http://rondonovan.net/
Reuben Rude - http://www.reubenrude.com/
Dave Hunter - http://gammalyte.com/blog/
Chris Shaw - http://homepage.mac.com/c.shaw/Menu5.html
Jon-Paul Bail - http://www.gridlock.bigcartel.com/
Alexandra Fischer - http://www.facebook.com/Afishcalledalex
Alan Hynes - http://omgposters.com/2009/07/30/ten-questions-with-alan-hynes/
Scott Johnson - http://www.scottyjprints.com/
Frank Zio - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Zio/95871445028

Participating Artists for “If These Walls Could Talk”:
Chor Boogie - http://www.chorboogie.com/
Apex - http://www.vimby.com/video/art/us/all/detail/9695
Eon75 - http://maxehrman.carbonmade.com/
Dabs & Myla - http://www.dabsmyla.com/
Surge

The Firehouse Goldenvoice Series of posters has reached number 100, with the promise of the next 100 posters and a bright future for the series ahead.

Many Thanks to David Lefkowitz for commissioning 100 posters for Goldenvoice, and making all this possible.

That’s why this pivotal poster includes numbers 100 and 101 in one piece designed and printed by Chuck Sperry and Dave Hunter.

The band on the poster is the Dark Star Orchestra, who recreate the music of the Grateful Dead. Dark Star Orchestra gathers the tribe – really most of the same people, their children and friends -  who inspired The Original psychedelic rock promoter Chet Helms to commission the very first modern rock posters by Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley and Victor Moscoso.

The venue is the Regency which occupies the very same room -  then called the Avalon Ballroom -  where Mr. Helms promoted the first Grateful Dead shows for his production company, the Family Dog. It seemed appropriate to end the first 100 and begin the next 100 right where it all started.

In fact, when Dave and I delivered the posters on Friday to The Regency, there was Stanley Mouse with easel and canvas – painting a Skull and Roses – right in the lobby.

The inspiration for the poster is the Grateful Dead song “Sugar Magnolia” with it’s follow through to “Sunshine Daydream.”

With much respect and appreciation to the roots of the modern rock art poster, and with “next-level” design and printing techniques, Dave Hunter and Chuck Sperry present 100-101 – a psychedelic thank you, a friendly rock and roll IOU to the masters of the past, and a cheerful iridescent / metallic good morning to the future.

Dark Star Orchestra at The Regency

April 23 and 24, 2010

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 100

Edition of 150

6 colors on archival cream paper

35″ x 23″

Signed and Numbered

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Regular Edition of 150

on archival cream paper

SOLD OUT

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Speckled Egg Edition of 20

on white with reflective white flecks paper

SOLD OUT

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Blue Wave Edition of 10

on blue with opalescent wave pattern paper

SOLD OUT

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White Marble Edition of 10

on white marble paper

SOLD OUT

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Dark Star Orchestra Photo Gallery

I’ve moved the additional photos of Dark Star Orchestra, here below, so it’s easier to reference each poster when they are released.

Below are two full sized photos with differing light effects (click to see larger):

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Below are detail photos of the three variants showing the corner of the image and paper style (click to see larger):

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Speckled Egg Variant (click to see larger):

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Blue Wave Variant (click to see larger):

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White Marble Variant (click to see larger):

I love it when the band gets the poster! When you have a discussion with the band over a piece and they say stuff like, “by far the best poster we’ve ever gotten,” “gritty and classy at the same time,” “I never hang up my band posters in my house, but this one goes up.” It’s Total Print Victory.

Then we had a cool discussion about the graffiti and how it somehow looks like Japanese characters. Pointed out that I gave shout outs to all my friends – Dave Hunter’s TRPS logo, Zoltron, Political Gridlock, and Ribbity (one of my favorite SF Graf artists).

Hangar 18 represents on an SF bus while the central figure “tunes out” with ipod in an introspective mood. Somehow all this technology still leaves us listening to our inner voice – even when blasting music.

Just a reminder – the Firehouse-Goldenvoice Poster Series is getting veeeery close to number 100.

Passion Pit, Mayer Hawthorne and The Country, Bear Hands

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 97

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Warfield

Poster will be released April 16, 2010 at 12 noon PST.

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Passion Pit Red (numbers 26-125)

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 97

Edition of 100

2 colors on canvas textured red paper

(heavy gold metallic and deep purple)

23″ x 35″

Signed and Numbered

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SOLD OUT

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Passion Pit Black (limited to numbers 1-25)

Firehouse Goldenvoice Series Number 97

Edition of 25

2 colors on canvas textured black paper

(heavy metallic blue and deep purple)

23″ x 35″

Signed and Numbered

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SOLD OUT