Chuck Sperry

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  • Books: Color x Color • Helikon • Chthoneon • Idyllion

Chuck Sperry

Chuck Sperry lives in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he’s made his particular style of rock poster designs for over 20 years. He operates Hangar 18, a silkscreen print studio, located in Oakland.

October 23, 2023 By squirt

Sperry’s Dave Matthews Band “The Bacchante” Poster Wins Award

My Dave Matthews Band “The Bacchante” Gorge Poster has been voted Poster of the Week by Expressobeans members. Thanks to all my supporters, I super appreciate it! Many thanks to Expressobeans.com.

Companion to my “Harmonia” Gorge 2019 poster — “The Bacchante” is a reference to the devotees of Bacchus, the god of wine and rock and roll. When I think of the Gorge, thoughts turn to the awe-inspiring natural setting, the spectacular amphitheatre, beautiful people, and cheering crowds. “Prepare yourselves for the roaring voice of the God of Joy!” ― Euripides, The Bacchae 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Dave Matthews Band, Expressobeans, Poster of the Week, The Bacchante

October 22, 2023 By squirt

Sperry’s Grateful Dead Poster Feature Release at Relix Marketplace on Friday, October 27!


Grateful Dead “Bertha”,
Capitol Theatre, March 20, 1970
19 x 35
Edition of 365
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered

Variants: Rainbow foil, Sparkle foil, Lava foil: Edition of 65 each

The 2023 edition of TRPS Festival of Rock Posters was remarkably fun! It was great to see all my friends, supporters, fellow artists and poster dealers at San Francisco’s premiere rock poster event. Thanks to my good friends and dedicated helpers: Ben Clarke, Jon Greco, and Robert Sommerfield – the booth was amazing! Thanks to all the volunteers and TRPS staff who make each and every year better than the last! 

I would like to thank everyone for their support of my Grateful Dead “Bertha” poster for the Capitol Theatre show of March 20, 1970. The Artist Edition Special Premiere Release at The Rock Poster Society’s Festival of Rock Posters yesterday was amazing.

You still have another chance at scoring one of my Grateful Dead “Bertha” posters this coming Friday, October 27 on Relixmarketplace.com with the Featured Release of the main edition of this poster and its variants.

Sperry’s Grateful Dead “Bertha” poster is the first of 18 posters (by various poster artists) to be released by Relix & The Capitol Theatre in limited edition series from the Grateful Dead’s 18 shows performed at the legendary venue between 1970 and 1971.

Make sure to sign up for Relixmarketplace.com mailing list, and follow their latest news for more details of the Featured Release!

Photo by Expressobeans at TRPS 2023:

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Bertha, Capitol Theatre, Grateful Dead, Relix, Relix Marketplace, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

October 21, 2023 By squirt

Sperry’s Grateful Dead Poster Release Live and on EQL

Grateful Dead “Bertha”,
Capitol Theatre, March 20, 1970
19 x 35
Artist Edition of 100
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered

Chuck Sperry’s rock poster “Bertha” for the Grateful Dead was commissioned with blessings from the Grateful Dead for The Capitol Theatre and Relix Marketplace, in celebration of the Capitol Theatre’s early 1970s resurgence as a major psychedelic performance space. Sperry’s poster commemorates the first night of the Dead’s legendary residency at the Capitol Theatre on March 20, 1970.

As a Special Debut Release: “Bertha” will be premiering live and will be available to acquire at The Rock Poster Society’s Festival of Posters, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The live release will be at TRPS: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Hall of Flowers, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park.

At the same time: Saturday, October 21, 2023, at 12 noon PST, the very limited special debut online launches will open for Sperry’s Grateful Dead poster and its variants. The launches close on Sunday, October 22, 2023, 12 noon PST. The ballot will be open for 24 hours. As long as you enter during this timeframe, time of entry does not impact your chances of purchase.

There will be four live launches: 1 launch for each print edition (regular, rainbow, sparkle, lava).

You are free to register once for each launch. Multiple entries per launch will be penalized.

You may only win 1 print from all the live launches within this twelve hour period. One per household.

Follow the link below, and you will be directed to The Chuck Sperry EQL Launches landing page – the site of my release when it goes “live”.

Visit the launch page for the release:

JOIN EQL RELEASE

Look for the Featured Release of the Grateful Dead “Bertha” Poster available through Relixmarketplace.com in late October! Sign up for the Relix Marketplace newsletter now to stay up to date on all the news!

“Bertha, I think, is probably some vaguer connotation of birth, death, and reincarnation. Cycle of existences, some kind of nonsense like that. I wouldn’t be surprised, but then again, it might not be. I don’t remember.” — Robert Hunter

Grateful Dead “Bertha”,
Capitol Theatre, March 20, 1970
19 x 35
Rainbow Foil Artist Edition of 20
7 colors on rainbow foil
Signed and Numbered

Grateful Dead “Bertha”,
Capitol Theatre, March 20, 1970
19 x 35
Sparkle Foil Artist Edition of 20
7 colors on sparkle foil
Signed and Numbered

Grateful Dead “Bertha”,
Capitol Theatre, March 20, 1970
19 x 35
Lava Foil Artist Edition of 20
7 colors on lava foil
Signed and Numbered

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Bertha, Capitol Theatre, Chuck Sperry, EQL, Grateful Dead, Relix, Relix Marketplace, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

October 6, 2023 By squirt

Legends Gather at TRPS Festival of Posters 2023

Join us October 21, 2023 for The Rock Poster Society, Festival of Posters in San Francisco’s beautiful Golden Gate Park.

Returning to San Francisco from my headline grabbing, sold out Harman Projects’ solo show at Seattle Art Fair, I’m excited to bring the love to San Francisco! The Seattle Times described the scene: “The booth of New York’s Harman Projects was especially popular, drawing a crowd that spilled out into the aisles waiting patiently for their turn to see the art. Some had traveled from as far as Florida to purchase artwork by Chuck Sperry, famed for his art nouveau-stvle concert posters for bands like Pearl Jam and The Who.”

The Seattle Times: “The booth of New York’s Harman Projects was especially popular, drawing a crowd that spilled out into the aisles waiting patiently for their turn to see the art. Some had traveled from as far as Florida to purchase artwork by Chuck Sperry

Last year I exhibited work at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Schneider Museum of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art acquired my special permanent collection, and the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco honored me with a lifetime membership in recognition of my pieces in the Achenbach Graphic Arts Foundation Archive within their permanent collection. Shows in Geneva, Amsterdam and Paris took my art worldwide and my supporters traveled to share events for another spectacular year.

Image from the curator’s tour hosted by curator Josef Zimmerman and artist Chuck Sperry at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana. April 23, 2022

I’ve had a busy year forging instant classics, and striving to make the poster community a fair forum by being the first artist to employ a machine-learning launch platform. That platform, EQL uses artificial intelligence to recognize and shut down bots, provides tools for blocking instant resellers, and insures that my launched prints get into the hands of loyal collectors. Talented artist Marq Spusta followed my lead, and more artists are sure to follow me into the future of art launches using artificial intelligence to make sure releases are run fairly.

I’ll have a very limited offering of recent posters: my final Edwardian Ball poster, Widespread Panic “Venus” literally broke the internet. Dave Matthews, “Bacchante” stole the show at the Gorge, Greensky Bluegrass “Mystic” became an instant favorite Red Rocks poster.

Of course, I’ll have available copies of my four recent art books: 750+ page rock poster compendium: “Color x Color, The Sperry Poster Archive 1980-2020”• “Idyllion”• “Chthoneon”• “Helikon”• and my Collectible Card Sets, Series 1 and 2.

I will have many surprises, rarities, variants, one-of-a-kind test prints, black & white tests, wood panels and blotters — from Pearl Jam to Panic — to offer exclusively at TRPS on Saturday, October 21, 2023!

San Francisco’s annual Fall Clas­sic, the The Rock Poster Society’s Fes­ti­val of Rock Posters is set to go for Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 21th, 2023 at the San Fran­cisco County Fair Build­ing (aka Hall of Flow­ers) in beau­ti­ful Golden Gate Park.

Fea­tur­ing legendary rock poster artists and deal­ers from around the coun­try, this is the biggest rock poster event of its kind any­where. Those of you who have attended this show in the past know that this is the one not to miss. We bring in the best of the best, and you’ll find every­thing from vin­tage psy­che­delic trea­sures to the best of the mod­ern silkscreen move­ment. This year’s ver­sion promises to offer another stel­lar lineup.

The loca­tion is at the cor­ner of Ninth and Lin­coln on the South edge of the Park, not far from the Haight, the DeY­oung Museum, and the Acad­emy of Sci­ences. There are plenty of great restau­rants close by, too. Make it a week­end and bring the fam­ily to enjoy the great weather, an awe­some poster event, and every­thing else San Fran­cisco has to offer.

Festival of Rock Posters: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Hall of Flowers, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park.

Here’s a look at a few of the rarities I’ll offer at TRPS:

Dave-Matthews-Band-by-Chuck-Sperry

 

“Color x Color”, Sperry’s bestselling artist monograph and museum catalog is in its third printing.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Festival of Rock Posters, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

September 15, 2023 By squirt

Sperry’s Greensky Bluegrass Poster Release on Sunday 9/17

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Edition of 600
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered

Chuck Sperry’s rock poster “The Mystic” for Greensky Bluegrass will be available on September 13-14 & September 15-16, 2023 officially through the band’s merchandise at the Dillon Amphitheater & Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

On Sunday, September 17, 2023, at 9 am PST, I will open my online launches for my Greensky Bluegrass poster and its variants. The launches close at 9 pm PST. The ballot will be open for 12 hours. As long as you enter during this timeframe, time of entry does not impact your chances of purchase.

There will be six live launches: 1 launch for each print edition (regular, silver, gold, black, sparkle, lava).

You are free to register once for each launch. Multiple entries per launch will be penalized.

You may only win 1 print from all the live launches within this twelve hour period. One per household.

This offering is a wonderful opportunity for those who may miss the the official merchandise release at the concerts. Follow the link below, and you will be directed to The Chuck Sperry EQL Launches landing page – the site of my release when it goes “live”.

Visit the launch page for Sunday’s release:

JOIN EQL RELEASE

“The Mystic” wears late summer flowers and early autumn leaves. She carries a pitcher of wine in celebration of the grape harvest with September upon us. Perhaps the mystic’s pitcher is full of kykeon, a special drink shared by initiates of the Eleusinian Mystery. The Mystery was an ancient rite which dramatized the cycle of life, death and rebirth — the natural procession of the seasons. Thought to have been a brew with psychotropic effects, kykeon brought visions to initiates revealing the majesty of nature’s spirit and the mystery of its processes.

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Silver Edition of 10
7 colors on metallic silver paper
Signed and Numbered

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Gold Edition of 10
7 colors on metallic gold paper
Signed and Numbered

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Satin Black Edition of 15
7 colors on satin black paper
Signed and Numbered

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Sparkle Foil Edition of 25
7 colors on sparkle foil
Signed and Numbered

Greensky Bluegrass, Dillon & Morrison 2023
“The Mystic”
16.5 x 35
Lava Foil Edition of 25
7 colors on lava foil
Signed and Numbered

 

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Dillon Amphitheater, EQL, Greensky Bluegrass, Red Rocks Amphitheater

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Latest News

  • Sperry Solo “Universal” Coming to Paris
  • Sperry in Popland 2025 at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
  • Chuck Sperry’s Alice Donut Poster
  • Chuck Sperry’s “The Mystic” & “Iphigenia” Blotters • 
Online Release with EQL
  • Available Now: Chuck Sperry’s Newest Protest Art Poster

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About Chuck Sperry

Chuck Sperry lives in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he’s made his particular style of rock poster designs for over 20 years. He operates Hangar 18, a silkscreen print studio, located in Oakland. Learn More…

Archives

Sperry Books: “Color x Color” • “Helikon” • “Chthoneon” • “Idyllion”

Latest Blog Posts

  • Sperry Solo “Universal” Coming to Paris
  • Sperry in Popland 2025 at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
  • Chuck Sperry’s Alice Donut Poster
  • Chuck Sperry’s “The Mystic” & “Iphigenia” Blotters • 
Online Release with EQL
  • Available Now: Chuck Sperry’s Newest Protest Art Poster

Band, Venue, Year…

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