Chuck Sperry

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.

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Sperry’s “Winter Lady” Release On Meier Skis

Internationally renowned artist Chuck Sperry has adapted his award-winning artwork entitled “Winter Lady” to high-quality skis and snowboards. These are sure to excite mountain lovers. Winter Lady was designed for the 2010 Widespread Panic NYE show in Denver. This beautiful design joins Meier’s collection of three other amazing skis and snowboards designed by Chuck. Made in Denver, Colorado by Meier Skis from a premium all-wood core with a little bit of Colorado beetle-kill pine – Meier Skis are hand-crafted and great on the slopes!

Buy “Winter Lady” Now: Wall Art Skis  •  Wall Art Snowboards  •  Real Skis  •   Real Snowboard

“Meier Skis has been producing quality, handmade, wood skis since 2009, and we have a reputation for building some of the best wood skis on the planet. We use sustainable, locally-sourced wood, and carefully handcraft each pair in Denver, Colorado in our very own Craft Skiery. We think we make the best skis money can buy, and we’re not alone.” – Meier Skis

There’s a commitment to hand-crafted artistry at Meier Skis that I recognize in my own work. Teaming up with Meier Skis to produce a Chuck Sperry Artist Series of snowboards and skis, underscores our mutual commitment to artistry and craft. Meier’s use of a blend of beautiful wood makes a gorgeous substrate to my designs, and has an impact equal to my wood panel art prints on skis and boards you can use (by choosing your model & size) or display (by choosing wall art option).

 

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Sperry Weekend Events: “Home Show” Retrospective, TRPS, and “Ratified” at The Roxie

Home Show, A Chuck Sperry Retrospective, 2024
19 x 35
Edition of 300
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and numbered

Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective is opening this week! The exhibition includes rock posters, art prints on paper and wood, deep cuts from the artist’s 40-year career, and the West Coast premiere of several hand-woven tapestries. Running from October 17-November 24, 2024, the exhibition is Sperry’s most comprehensive exhibition since his Color x Color retrospective at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in 2022 and his first local exhibition since the acquisition last spring of four of his pieces by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, two of which were featured in Art of Noise this summer.

“Joy” 2024
Edition of 300
9 x 11.25
Vegetable based inks
80# unbleached cotton paper
BC Blotter Co.
Signed and Numbered

Joy, 2024
20 x 30
Edition of 30
Screen print on oak panel
Signed and numbered

Pneuma, 2024
30 x 20
Edition of 30
Screen print on oak panel
Signed and numbered

Check out all Chuck Sperry’s upcoming events below:

Friday, Oct. 18, 1 PM – 9 PM: Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective
Only a couple of tickets left to get a chance to purchase a piece of Chuck’s work yourself! Check out the ticket availability HERE! From 6-9 PM is a free opening reception for Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective. Join us in kicking off a poster-filled weekend!

Photo: Shaun Roberts

Saturday, Oct. 19, 10 AM-6 PM: TRPS Fes­ti­val of Rock Posters 2024
Chuck Sperry will concentrate on poster and print offerings at TRPS this year: he’ll have many surprises, rarities, variants, one-of-a-kind test prints, black & white tests, and blotters — from Pearl Jam to Panic — to offer exclusively at TRPS on Saturday, October 19, 2024! San Francisco’s annual Fall Clas­sic, the Rock Poster Society’s Fes­ti­val of Rock Posters 2024 is set to go for Sat­ur­day at the San Fran­cisco County Fair Build­ing (aka Hall of Flow­ers) in beau­ti­ful Golden Gate Park.

Ratified, 2024
21 x 31.5
Edition of 300
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and numbered

Monday, Oct. 21, 6-8 PM: RATIFIED new screen print by Chuck Sperry
A Film Showing of RATIFIED co-presented by Roxie Theater and Spoke Art. Featuring a new limited edition screen print by Chuck Sperry, part of the ongoing Spoke Art curated Roxie Theater poster series. Posters are only available on Monday, October 21. 

RATIFIED is a feature documentary about the 100-year struggle for constitutional gender equality. It’s an inspiring story of a multi-racial, multi-generational, bi-partisan effort to make Virginia the 38th and final state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. It’s also a story of how bureaucracy is used to stifle progress and takes a close look at the incredible perseverance of women – specifically, the Black women leaders who have taken their rightful place at the front of the movement for gender equality.

Tickets HERE

Deepak Puri & Forest Stearns in a post-screening discussion facilitated by RATIFIED subject, Kati Hornung.

Kati Hornung, Executive Director of VoteEquality
Kati advocates for an equality table so large every American can find a seat. Her gender equality advocacy work was memorialized in the movie RATIFIED, as the cameras followed the successful VAratifyERA campaign and later VoteEquality. Kati has a professional background in accounting and software consulting. Although initially involved in advocacy because of her oldest child’s interest, she rediscovered a passion for feminism that had been simmering on a back burner since childhood. Kati is very “task oriented” and the task she most wants to accomplish is the complete dismantling of systemic gender inequality. Step one: closing the equality gap in our Constitution.

Deepak Puri, Co-Founder of Democracy Labs
Deepak is the co-founder of Democracy Labs, a SF based non-profit that connects progressive groups with free and affordable solutions. DemLabs works closely with grassroots groups to identify their needs, finds the best solution to meet them, and then freely shares how to use those new tools through a free blog with over 1,900 case studies. Deepak is a Silicon Valley veteran with fifteen years of experience at Netscape, Oracle, and VMware.

Forest Stearns, Artist
Forest Stearns is the Principal Artist at DRAWEVERYWHERE LLC where he produces unique artwork and leads collaborations between artists and institutions. He has a passion for founding Artist in Residence programs that connect art, science, and technology. Currently he is the Creative Innovation Consultant and Artist in Residence co-founder at Google Quantum AI in Santa Barbara, CA. Stearns is an academically trained prolific illustrator, an arts educator, creative facilitator and community builder. Also an engaged father and supportive partner, he was one of twenty-eight artists who launched the national Artists4ERA collection in support of the VoteEquality campaign and the fully ratified Twenty-Eighth Amendment (Equal Rights).

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Sperry’s San Francisco Retrospective “Home Show” Ticket Info

Joy, 2024 • 20 x 30 • Edition of 30 • 7 colors on oak panel • Signed and Numbered

Home Show
A Chuck Sperry Retrospective

Haight Street Art Center
215 Haight St, San Francisco CA 94102

Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 12-6pm
October 17-November 24

Opening: Friday, October 18

Tickets available: Buy Tickets HERE

Available at the opening: 25 Archive panels, two new panel editions, new Home Show poster, new blotter edition, books, card sets and surprises!

The Haight Street Art Center is delighted to present Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective, an exhibition of rock-posters, art prints on paper and wood, deep cuts from the artist’s 40-year career, and the San Francisco premiere of a triptych of hand-woven tapestries.

Running from October 17 through November 24, 2024, with an opening reception on Friday October 18, the exhibition is Sperry’s most comprehensive exhibition since his Color x Color retrospective at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in 2022, and his first local exhibition since the acquisition last spring of four of his pieces by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, two of which were featured in Art of Noise exhibition this summer.

“The Graces” (from 2018-2020) stunning triptych of handwoven tapestries to debut in SF.

Sperry has redefined the concert poster medium since 1994. Emphasizing printing excellence, Sperry continually expands his vision with a panoply of neoclassical themes in his art work. Centering on a the expressive power of compositional rhythm, color and pattern — which unifies all his work — he employs ancient themes (contrasting them against contemporary events) to express his reaction to the tumultuous start of 21st Century, the assault on democracy, the struggle for equal rights and the erosion of truth and veracity. Sperry’s engaging approach has influenced many in both the poster and art worlds and has impacted the contemporary art scene worldwide.

The Home Show retrospective exhibition spans Sperry’s long and influential career, featuring new silkscreen prints from the artist’s ongoing “Muse” series, including a number of original ink drawings; a triptych of large format, handwoven tapestries; paintings; posters and art prints from his archive; and rarely seen works that illuminate his place in the art history of San Francisco and beyond.

“Pandora” (2007) One of 30+ original, rarely exhibited, Sperry brush-and-ink drawings to go on view.

 

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Chuck Sperry Retrospective at Haight Street Art Center in October

Photo: Shaun Roberts

Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective
Haight Street Art Center
215 Haight St, San Francisco
Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 12-6pm

October 17-November 24
Opening: Friday, October 18

Ticketing information to be announced soon.
Make sure to sign up for my mailing list to get all the latest news!

The Haight Street Art Center is delighted to present Home Show: A Chuck Sperry Retrospective, an exhibition of rock-posters, art prints on paper and wood, deep cuts from the artist’s 40-year career, and the San Francisco premiere of the several hand-woven tapestries. Running from October 17 through November 24, 2024, with an opening reception on Friday October 18, the exhibition is Sperry’s most comprehensive exhibition since his Color x Color retrospective at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in 2022, and his first local exhibition since the acquisition last spring of four of his pieces by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, two of which were featured in Art of Noise exhibition this summer.

Inspired by our human impulse to create, Home Show underscores what it means to be a maker in the 21st century, designing and producing work that straddles fine art, entertainment, and craftsmanship. The exhibition spans Sperry’s long and influential career, featuring new silkscreen prints from the artist’s ongoing “Muse” series and rare works, including a number of original pieces, from his archive.

Photo: Shaun Roberts

At a moment when algorithms and computers are increasingly being used to do creative work, what is the role of the artist or craftsperson? This question is personal for Sperry: as the design and production of cultural ephemera is increasingly automated or outsourced, his dedication to the craft of screen printing and the art of gig posters has become somewhat anomalous. Still, Sperry is confident that the human spark of creativity will persist. “Art made by humans for humans in physical reality is imbued with the soul of our humanity,” he says. “Our uniquely mortal heart and immortal spirit, drawn from our human culture, collective unconscious, and experience will transcend the current imperative for non-human and virtual intervention in the art space.”

Photo: Shaun Roberts

Drawing influence from the playwrights and poets of Classical Antiquity to the artist-designers of Art Nouveau, Sperry’s vivid, colorful screen prints merge the worlds of art, entertainment, and politics seamlessly, just as his predecessors did. Patterns of brightly colored foliage emanate from behind a woman’s head, her hair falling across her body or taken up by a gust of wind. Often, she looks directly at the viewer, standing in her power and control. Sperry’s muses carry names from Greek mythology, tracing their knowledge and image to the goddesses of art, science, and religion. This ongoing interest in ancient knowledge and texts such as the Orphic Hymns places Sperry’s practice of image-making into a long—and very human—lineage.

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Sperry at Art on Paper New York with Harman Projects

Harman Projects is thrilled to announce our return to the Art on Paper fair this September! The Gallery’s third presentation at the New York art fair will feature new work by Sandra Chevrier, Cryptik, Huntz Liu, Travis Louie, Martin Whatson, and Hama Woods alongside recently shown works by artists Petite Luxures and Chuck Sperry as well as selections from the Moleskine Project!

If you are local to New York City and plan on attending the fair, we will be located at booth #D01 and tickets can be purchased at the link here. We hope to see you there!

Select VIP Preview
Thursday, September 5, 2024: 5—6pm
Exclusive Entry for Select VIPs

Opening Evening
Thursday, September 5, 2024: 6—9pm
Exclusive Entry for Fair Pass Holders & Select VIP

Public Hours
Friday, September 6, 2024: 11am—7pm
Saturday, September 7 2024: 11am—7pm
Sunday, September 8, 2024: 11am—6pm

Pier 36:
299 South Street,
New York, NY 10002

 

Archives

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

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