Chuck Sperry

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Chuck Sperry in “Litmus Test” Exhibition at Fort Wayne Museum of Art in September

Litmus Test: Works on Paper from the Psychedelic Era

Fort Wayne Museum of Art

September 15 – December 9, 2018

The Psychedelic Era was, among many things, a cultural frontier for colors and imagery. Music, politics, and drugs ignited an unprecedented expansion of art revolving around these elements. College campuses around the country, now seen as the birthing grounds for much of the psychedelic era’s ideals, were hotbeds for bright young minds to organize politically and artistically. From Berkeley College to the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, young idealists organized and the art of the era came to fruition. This exhibition will be our bridge to that time, showcasing a variety of psychedelic era works on paper.

Highlighting this experience is the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.  The poster work and ephemera of Gary Grimshaw and the photography of Leni Sinclair will showcase the art that poured out of that time and place. Blotter sheets from Mark Mothersbaugh, H.R. Giger, S. Clay Wilson, Chuck Sperry, and more will represent the creative fuel for many of the artists of the time. Also featured will be the work of the poster artists of the time: Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin, and Alton Kelley. Lastly works by artists Alex and Allyson Grey and Isaac Abrams will display the fine art guided and influenced by the era and movement.

Exhibition Opening Party: September 14, 6-9pm

Celebrate opening weekend of this exhibit and Litmus Test: Works on Paper from the Psychedelic Era with live music, cash bar, appetizers, with many of the artists in attendance!

This exhibition is curated by independent curator and critic Carlo McCormick and FWMoA Curator of Contemporary Art Josef Zimmerman.

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Chuck Sperry Solo Museum Exhibition at Fort Wayne Museum of Art in September

Chuck Sperry Fort Wayne Museum of Art

All Access: Exploring Humanism in the Art of Chuck Sperry

September 15 – December 9, 2018

The Fort Wayne Museum of Art is pleased to celebrate Chuck Sperry’s first solo museum exhibition. Sperry has been preeminent in the rock poster genre since the late 1990s and has largely defined the genre in each decade since with his distinctive style and masterful printing technique.

Sperry has drawn inspiration for this work from the classical Greco-Roman idea of the muses, and their metaphorical home on Mount Helikon — the source of inspiration for all things art and music. Naiads, nymphs and muses in their richly patterned floral settings make their way into Sperry’s work. Dripping with brightly colored flowers, decked in gold and silver textures, Sperry’s blue-silver muses sing a paean to the long tradition of humanism reactivated in the struggle for social progress, universal human rights, a more perfect democracy and the utopian ideals of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco where Sperry has made his home since 1989.

Symbolism, Secession, ukiyo-e, and psychedelia blend in Sperry’s flattened, post-modern figurative art: all potent ingredients Sperry strives self-consciously to re-evaluate for the 21st Century.

The exhibit will feature 2 large scale tapestries designed by Sperry, 25 screen prints on oak panel, original ink drawings, and ephemeral color progressives which illuminate Sperry’s unique printing process.

There will be several new wood panel editions, and two new paper editions with variant editions available to acquire.

I will be releasing “Chthoneon, The Art of Chuck Sperry” the 136 page follow up of my art book “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry”. 

This exhibition is organized by the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and its Curator of Contemporary Art Josef Zimmerman.

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Exhibition Opening Party: September 14, 6-9pm

Celebrate opening weekend of this exhibit and Litmus Test: Works on Paper from the Psychedelic Era with live music, cash bar, appetizers, and face time with the one and only Chuck Sperry!

Printmaking Workshop 1 with Chuck Sperry: September 15, 1:30pm • SOLD OUT

Learn from the singular figure of psychedelic poster printmaking Chuck Sperry with a hand-on workshop. Pre-registration with fee of $30 is required. Fee includes all supplies and your take-home creation.

Printmaking Workshop 2 with Chuck Sperry: September 15, 3:30pm • SOLD OUT

Learn from the singular figure of psychedelic poster printmaking Chuck Sperry with a hand-on workshop. Pre-registration with fee of $30 is required. Fee includes all supplies and your take-home creation.

Curator’s Tour: November 1, 12:15-1pm
Curator of Contemporary Art Josef Zimmerman will lead you on an engaging tour of this exhibit. From specialized and personal points of view, curators offer unique perspectives on all FWMoA exhibits. Tours are free with gallery admission.

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Nick Cave x Fast Times by Chuck Sperry – Skate Deck Release

Coming Soon • Nick Cave x Fast Times • The Second Collection

From Fast Times:

“Following Fast Time Skateboarding’s successful (completely sold out) skate deck release with Nick Cave in 2015, we are proud to present our second collaboration with Nick Cave and Chuck Sperry.

“The iconic Australian singer-songwriter, Fast Times’ friend and frontman of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds has left a long-lasting impression with his extensive music catalogue and creative vision.

Nick Cave with Chuck Sperry’s 2015 skate deck for Fast Times Skateboarding

 

“No stranger to Nick’s projects and tour art is San Francisco artist Chuck Sperry. Similar to our first collaboration with these two legends, Chuck’s artwork draws inspiration from Nick’s song, “Heathen Child” from the Album “Grinderman 2”, featuring the lyrics ‘Hey Little Moo Moo, Light As a Rainbow’. The song was chosen by Nick himself to represent the Melbourne skate scene and Fast Times community.

“The full wrap graphic on the decks use a metallic glitter giving the boards a unique texture and feel.”

You can get your hands on the super exclusive street deck, cruiser deck and t-shirt at any of Fast Times’ Australia-based stores – and online worldwide on Saturday the 14th of April HERE.

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Sperry to Exhibit at Art Karlsruhe, Germany

I am very pleased to announce I will exhibit my prints in Germany at the Art Karlsruhe art fair with Art Room Gallery of Konstanz, Germany on February 22 through 25, 2018.

The occasion for my showing in Germany: for the first time, Art Karlsruhe will be presenting a curated special show of editioned prints devoted to the fine art of printmaking, and I have been invited to show my work there.

Germany’s largest art fair, Art Karlsruhe focuses on Classic Modern art to the latest works of Contemporary art. This extraordinary fair attracts 200+ galleries from all over Germany and internationally. Located in a region of Germany known for art collecting and support for the visual arts, Art Karlsruhe attracts 50,000 visitors each year.

Over the years, the fair has developed a reputation as a strong proponent of German Expressionism, Impressionism, and Modern art. Artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Willi Baumeister, and Fred Thieler can be found there.

Art Room Gallery will feature a solo show of photography by Uwe Langmann. The gallery will be presenting a selection of art from Sebastian Wandl, Peintre X, Tabby, Sarah Jil Niklas, Mathias Pürthner and the San Francisco based artist Chuck Sperry.

Please join Art Room Gallery at the booth H1/S04

Art Karlsruhe 2018
Messe Karlsruhe
Messeallee 1
76287 Karlsruhe
Germany
February 22–25, 2018
Preview: February 21, 2018, 3 p.m.–9 p.m.

 

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Edwardian Ball 2018 Poster

Edwardian Ball 2018
15 x 35
Edition of 125
3 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

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This poster is officially available at the show in LA. I will be making a very limited online release of this poster on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at a random time.

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It’s Edwardian Ball time again, and as always, it’s a great pleasure to work with Justin Katz, the Edwardian Ball impresario, and once again I had a lot of fun making this poster!

My Edwardian Ball posters always have an edge of social critique in them. They are done with a wink and a nod, in keeping with the enjoyment of attending such an elaborate period pageant.

Most of the attendees also realize that the Edwardian era was one of unabashed and ostentatious oligarchy, unrivaled economic imperialism and a presumed European superiority complex. It’s all of these things that makes the period so bizarre to us today. I’ve always endeavored to reveal this outrageous and bizarre sense of imperial entitlement in my Edwardian Ball posters, and keep them wild and fun.

My poster this year is a fanciful portrait of famed New York titan and oligarch, John Jacob Astor IV, with his pregnant, 18 year old, newlywed wife Madeleine — during their deliciously scandalous honeymoon to France and Egypt — on an evening walk outside the Paris Opera sometime before returning to America aboard the Titanic.

The wealthiest man aboard the doomed ship, and with $25,000 cash discovered frozen in his pocket, Astor went down with the ship. A cautionary tale for the Trump Era.

Read more about Chuck Sperry & his newest art book here

Archives

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

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