Chuck Sperry

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Swiss Tour 2010 – Geneva Memories

It was so great to be back in Geneva. My old friend, Yvan Le Hyaric made this really cool set-up for our show at his exhibition space called La Station Orbitale – the lighting was amazing! All our friends were there. Moe Seiber showed and I was finally able to give her a poster gift in a big thank you for putting us up at her house. Helene and Franz Treichler of The Young Gods came and rocked out with us. I was so happy to see everyone come out and check out the newest stuff.

Yvan and his wife Marielos Zuniga cooked us an amazing pumpkin soup in the afternoon for everyone at the opening. Took this picture of the ingredients – mmmm!

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TRPS Poster – The Rock Poster Society, Festival of Rock Posters, Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park, SF – October 9, 2010

TRPS “Festival of Rock Posters” October 9, 2010

20 x 28

Edition of 125

7 colors on archival cream paper

Signed and Numbered

SOLD OUT – Thank you!

TRPS “Festival of Rock Posters” October 9, 2010

GOLD EDITION

20 x 28

Edition of 20

6 colors on gold foil

Signed and Numbered

SOLD OUT – Thank you!

I’ve just finished my TRPS poster for the Festival of Rock Posters event on Octoiber 9, 2010 – 10 am to 6pm. TRPS graciously invited me to create a poster for this year’s Festival.

This poster drips with San Francisco-style psychedelia. My special blend of Eye Fry Blue – incorporates 100 percent hand-mixed florescent blue powder in a brilliant blue that has been discontinued. This is the very last can of this particularly pure blue that works in concert with the heavy monster brew of Eye Fry Red. The red was mixed double strong with florescent and punched up with Fire Red. Then I printed each one twice to give it extra Eye Frying Kapow. After preparing the Eye Fry Red, I printed the exact intensity of Eye Fry Blue with a very open screen usually reserved for metallic inks to give it that lasting after image on the eye and in the mind.

The gold metallic wall paper design in the background of the poster image, looks like the type of Victorian wallpaper you might find in The Haight Ashbury, with a little difference. The original damask design has been altered devilishly to mirror the effect such wallpaper has when one stares at it stoned – I know you’ve been there – the patterns become other things. See how many times you can find the word “TRiPS” in my design.

This poster will be released starting at 10 am, October 9, 2010, at the TRPS Festival of Rock Posters.

All proceeds from the sale of this poster to benefit the TRPS Artist Relief Fund.

I will be making a very limited online release of Artist Proofs and Gold Foil Variant of this poster on October 10, at 12 noon PST.

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Swiss Firehouse Tour with Lindsey Kuhn – October 2 to 8, 2010

Firehouse will be heading to Switzerland for a week long tour from October 2 until October 8, 2010. Ron Donovan and I will arrive for the Rockaholics show in Wadenswil/Zurich. We will join artists Lindsey Kuhn, Malleus, Guy Burwell, Chris Hopewell, Justin Kramerer, Blackyard, Michael Hacker, and photographer Fabian von Unwerth for the event.

Ron, Lindsey and I will then tour Switzerland together visiting Luzern with artist Mart Infanger, Bern, and Geneva. The tour ends in Frankfurt, Germany with a show with Ron and Lindsey appearing. Meanwhile, I’ll be flying home to attend The Rock Poster Society’s Hall of Flowers show in Golden Gate Park, home in San Francisco.

Rockaholics II – Saturday, October 2, 2010 – Villa Rosenmatt, Gessenerweg 5, Wadenswil/Zurich, Switzerland • Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn, Malleus, Guy Burwell, Chris Hopewell, Justin Kramerer, Blackyard, Michael Hacker, and photographer Fabian von Unwerth.

“American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art” by director Merle Becker, will be debuted to the Swiss audience at Rockaholics II.

For Rockaholics II master printer Albert Mantel will produce beautiful and strictly limited anodized aluminum prints of many of the artists attending. I will be exclusively releasing 5 anodized aluminum images from my archive at the Rockaholics II event in Zurich, in editions of 5 each, signed and numbered. Here are the five images to be released as anodized aluminum:

Voice Magazine will debut a special edition of it’s publication devoted entirely to rock art – what a treat for attendees of Rockaholics II!

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Rock Poster Bazar – Monday, October 4, 2010 – Metzgerhalle, 1 Baselstrasse, Luzern, Switzerland – Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn, and Mart Infanger. Starts at 5 pm.

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Rock Poster Bazar – Tuesday, October 5, 2010 – Cafe Rossli, Under the Bridge at the Reithalle, Bern, Switzerland – Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn, with Concert by Shellac at the Reithalle upstairs. Starts at 5 pm.

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Flashback – Wednesday through Friday, October 6-7-8, 2010 – La Station Orbitale, Bat G, SIP de Plainpalais 10 Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, Geneva, Switzerland – Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn. Opening October 7, 5 pm until late.

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I’ll be home October 9, 2010, from 10 am to 6pm for TRPS Festival of Rock Posters.

TRPS – Festival of Rock Posters – Saturday, October 9, 2010 – Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. 10 am until 6 pm.

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Ron and Lindsey will be appearing in Frankfurt, Germany. My work will be appearing but I will be home for TRPS.

Rock Poster Art Show – Saturday & Sunday, October 9-10, 2010 – Gallery We Are 3, Stephanstrasse 1, Frankfurt, Germany – Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Lindsey Kuhn. Opening October 9, 7 pm until late.

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Faya Gallery – 211 Elizabeth – Closing Party – Friday, September 24, 2010

The show at Faya Gallery, 211 Elizabeth Street in New York City was a total blast. The show is still up until September 26, and there’s a closing party on Friday, September 24 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Chris and I will not be able to attend, but it’s sure to be a great time! I was very happy to be back on the Lower East Side for the opening. The Faya Gallery’s location is beautiful, in North Little Italy, and the hospitality of gallery owner John Scalise and his partner Rob and friend Cervantes was great. Here’s a cool picture of John and Cervantes:

Chris Shaw showed his new paintings and they are gorgeous. I love his canvases; I’m a proud owner of some of his paintings. Chris is just a top-notch painter, and fun guy to hang out with. Take a look at his beautiful canvases here:

Carlo McCormick – Senior Editor of “Paper” – showed up at the opening and introduced me to Hubert Kertzschmar the album art designer of Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls”. The above photo is courtesy Carlo McCormick (with Hubert’s camera).

Novelist Charles Bock came to the opening and we caught a coffee together (next day) near his writing office on Union Square, NYC. It was really great to catch up with Charles and share the last year of experiences with him. I designed the cover for the paperback edition of his novel “Beautiful Children.”

I had a great time with Seth Tobocman, editor of World War 3 Illustrated magazine. Seth and I worked as co-editors in the 1980’s on World War 3. The magazine is still going strong after 25 years. And I contribute to this day. There will be a retrospective of WW3 in which I’m included at EXIT Art Gallery in NYC early next year.

On our free day Chris and I rolled around New York City. I was a little tired – with the Dylan release just before my trip – and it’s kind of hard to get sleep when your head is hanging over the traffic…

…And there’s an incredible rat problem downtown.

Chris and I had a great time together. The show was a big success! We spent part of our free day by going to this great paint pigment store on the Lower East Side – to pick up raw / mixable paint pigments for our paintings and prints. Dropped some serious cash on metallic and opalescent pigments that will mirror the metallic effects of my printing in acrylic paint for the canvases and to print with. I used to live across the street from this store and it was a pleasure to be back in the hood. Thanks to John Scalise and everyone at Faya Gallery!

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Faya Gallery – New York City – Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Faya Gallery, 211 Elizabeth Street, New York City, has invited Chris Shaw, Chuck Sperry and Peter LeCompte to exhibit their newest work through the month of September. The opening is on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 6pm to 9pm. Sperry will be showing his newest poster work, Chris Shaw will be showing his newest paintings, and Peter LeCompte will show his newest hand-painted silkscreen pieces.

This exhibition is a fusion of the rock poster aesthetic and fine art.

In Chris Shaw’s work the rock poster aesthetic informs the painting medium; there is a mash-up of bold psychedelic poster stylings with very painterly techniques informed by Renaissance styles of picture-making and subject matter.

Peter LeCompte is like a DJ who orchestrates pre-arranged musical samples into a continuous mix while also highlighting their obscure connotations. Le Compte juggles memory and color into what appear to be the solidified icons of a recovered happiness – they hark back to the more anxiety-free days of our collective pre-Vietnam war childhood.

Chuck Sperry brings his masterfully created silkscreened rock posters, resonating with the styles drawn from the poster art form’s long tradition – ranging from the roots of the poster tradition in Art Nouveau and Vienna Secession style to Psychedelic, Rock, Punk, Post-Punk, Grunge, Stoner and Pop. In Sperry’s work you can trace the history of the poster medium from the end of the 19th Century to the beginning of the 21st.

Archives

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

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