Chuck Sperry

By

SFMOMA Opens “Art of Noise” May 4 • Sperry On View

SFMOMA Art of Noise
“The Black Keys” SFMOMA selection of Sperry concert poster for its permanent collection

SFMOMA Opens Art of Noise May 4

Art of Noise • SFMOMA • May 4 – August 18, 2024
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street • San Francisco, CA 94103

Art of Noise at SFMOMA is a multi-sensory love song to the designers who devote their artistic vision to music. 

Music is a part of our daily lives. By contemplating how music is amplified by art — the design of album covers and concert posters — SFMOMA’s upcoming exhibition Art of Noise shows us how profoundly this art has shaped our experience of the rhythms and melodies we listened to for over 100 years.

SFMOMA Art of Noise
“Bob Dylan” SFMOMA selection of Sperry concert poster for its permanent collection

A floor-to-ceiling “temple” of music design — including many hundreds of San Francisco’s psychedelic rock posters — will feature rock poster artists and legendary bands of every description. Mid-century modern album covers, as well as hip-hop, punk, and rave flyers complete this expansive display of incredible color and creativity.

Art of Noise is not to be missed by any fan of art and music! This massive exhibition celebrates the icons of concert posters including Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, Chuck Sperry, David Singer, Lee Conklin, Bonnie MacLean, Milton Glaser and many others. 

SFMOMA Art of Noise
“Edward Sharpe” SFMOMA selection of Sperry concert poster for its permanent collection

Art of Noise is organized by SFMOMA and curated by Joseph Becker, associate curator of architecture and design, with Divya Saraf, curatorial assistant in architecture and design.

The exhibition opens Saturday, May 4 at the museum. You can learn more about this amazing exhibition by following the link below.

LEARN MORE

SFMOMA Art of Noise
“Power to the Peaceful” SFMOMA selection of Sperry concert poster for its permanent collection

 

By

Sperry Enters Permanent Collection of SFMOMA

Clockwise from top left: Bob Dylan, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros,
The Black Keys and Power to the Peaceful by Chuck Sperry

I’m very proud to announce that San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired a selection of my concert posters for its permanent collection. The museum will include my work in its upcoming exhibition Art of Noise opening May 4, 2024. This exhibit should not be missed! It is a must-visit for every poster fan, all my friends, and supporters!

Here, briefly what the museum says about the exhibition:

Music is amplified by great design, from the concert posters that paper bedroom walls to the Sony Walkmans and Apple iPods once carried in our pockets. Through over 800 works, Art of Noise explores this essential relationship and the ground-breaking designs that enrich our collective memory, touching all our lives and giving form and color to sound. Heavily drawn from SFMOMA’s collection, the works on view include over 500 concert posters and flyers, 150 record album covers, 100 design objects, and three sound installations that chart the evolution of music-centered design over the past 100 years. Enter the exhibition’s “temple” to music graphics where hundreds of psychedelic rock posters extend from floor to ceiling, highlighting San Francisco’s integral role in the 1960s and ‘70s scene and the artwork that turned it up.

You can learn more about this amazing exhibition by following the link below.

Art of Noise is organized by SFMOMA and curated by Joseph Becker, associate curator of architecture and design, with Divya Saraf, curatorial assistant in architecture and design.

Art of Noise • May 4 – August 18, 2024
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 
151 Third Street • San Francisco, CA 94103

LEARN MORE

By

Steel Pole Bath Tub, San Francisco Poster, Chuck Sperry

Steel Pole Bath Tub, 2024
21 x 33
Edition of 300
3 colors on cream paper
Signed and numbered

“Reunited San Francisco noise-rock legends Steel Pole Bath Tub play their first hometown show in over 20 years when they headline the Great American Music Hall Friday night. The group was founded in Bozeman, Montana, in 1986 when Morasky and bassist Dale Flattum began experimenting with an aggressive, overdriven style of punk noise. The pair relocated to Seattle, where they brought on drummer […] Dorothy Kent and started to incorporate recordings from vintage television shows and films using cassette players operated with foot switches, adding to the chaos of their sound.” — Dave Pehling, CBS News, Bay Area

Among many pop culture samples incorporated by the band, “The Brady Bunch” is a favorite Steel Pole Bath Tub source of sound bites to weave into their mind-blowing noise performances. The band’s fantastic debut album “Butterfly Love” is named after the slogan on the psychedelic poster in the Brady girls’ room above Marcia’s bed. Taking a deep dive into the band’s mind-fucking aesthetic, and throwing a backward glance at a television program that imprinted a generation’s psyche, I’ve recreated Marcia Brady’s dayglo 70’s poster for the sure-to-be extraordinary reunion of SF’s beloved noise-rock heavyweights.

My dayglo Steel Pole Bath Tub poster will be available through Steel Pole Bath Tub at the concert on Friday, February 16, 2024 at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco. 

I will make a limited online launch of my Steel Pole Bath Tub poster through EQL opening on Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 9 am PST. The launch closes (same day) on Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 9 pm PST.

Visit the launch page for the release (countdown and launch):

JOIN EQL RELEASE

By

Chuck Sperry’s 50th Anniversary “Fantastic Planet” Poster

La Planète Sauvage, 2023
20 x 30
Edition of 200
6 colors on cream paper
Signed and numbered

I am proud to unveil my very special 50th anniversary poster for Fantastic Planet! I created this to celebrate the 35mm film screening at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco and is limited to only 200 copies.

Nothing else has ever looked or felt like director René Laloux’s animated marvel Fantastic Planet, a politically minded and visually inventive work of science fiction. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). After Terr, kept as a pet since infancy, escapes from his gigantic child captor, he is swept up by a band of radical fellow Oms who are resisting the Draags’ oppression and violence. With its eerie, coolly surreal cutout animation by Roland Topor; brilliant psychedelic jazz score by Alain Goraguer; and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded 1973 counterculture classic is a perennially compelling statement against conformity and violence.

Online sales begin next week through Spoke Art Gallery. Please make sure you’re on the Spoke Art Gallery email list to receive the latest news: https://spoke-art.com/pages/mailing-list

More info: https://spoke-art.com/…/chuck-sperry-x-fantastic-planet

By

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:

Archives

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

Latest Blog Posts