Read More: Sperry’s beautiful new art book, “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” (2017)
By squirt
Read More: Sperry’s beautiful new art book, “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” (2017)
By squirt
Twiddle New Year’s Eve
18 x 35
Regular Edition of 375
7 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered
Sold Out – Thank You!
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Twiddle New Year’s Eve
18 x 35
Blue Opal Edition of 12
7 colors on blue opal paper
Signed and Numbered
Sold Out – Thank You!
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Twiddle New Year’s Eve
18 x 35
Wave Foil Edition of 19
7 colors on wave foil
Signed and Numbered
Sold Out – Thank You!
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This poster will be available through Twiddle’s official merchandise at the Palace Theatre on December 30 & 31, 2017.
I will make a very limited online release of my poster and it’s variants on Monday, January 1, 2018 at a random time.
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I’m happy to announce my final rock poster for 2017. I’ve had an incredible year, full of wonderful achievements and experiences! So I’m especially glad to end on a solid, bold note. After all we’ve been through this year, my friends, stay beautiful! Life is a gift!
Twiddle will perform a pair of very special concerts to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The band will perform two shows at the Palace Theatre in Albany, New York.
Twiddle will be joined by openers The Marcus King Band on December 30. On New Year’s Eve Twiddle will perform three sets and be joined onstage by special guests The Giant Country Horns.
I want to welcome a lot of newcomers to my site! I’ll quickly explain how my releases on my website are conducted. My Twiddle posters will be available, right here, in this post on Monday, January 1, 2018 at a random time. A paypal “Buy Now” button will appear under the poster (above) at a random time, and I will announce the price of the poster at the same time. (There may be additional offers or surprises – revealed at that random time.) Good luck to everyone, and as always, I am very appreciative of your support!
Read more about Chuck Sperry & his newest art book here
By squirt
I will be making a very limited release of “The Ostracon” and it’s variants, my fourth and final Jerry Garcia portrait, with a very special book signing of “Helikon” – Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 2 pm – through Spoke Art Gallery at Context Art Fair during Art Basel Miami.
Please visit us at Spoke Art Booth C133!
Read More: Sperry’s beautiful new art book, “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” (2017)
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Notes on “The Ostracon”
Ostrakon. (in ancient Greece) a potsherd, especially one used as a ballot on which the name of a person voted to be ostracized was inscribed.
“At any time, by a majority of votes written secretly upon potsherds (ostraka), the Assembly, in a quorum of six thousand members, might send into exile for ten years any man who in its judgement had become a danger to the state. In this way ambitious leaders would be stimulated to conduct themselves with circumspection and moderation, and men suspected of conspiracy could be disposed of without the law’s delay.”
— Will Durant, The Life of Greece, The Story of Civilization, Part II
While working on my book “Helikon” my work has been driven and inspired by the spirit of the ancient Greek muses and Greek mythology; Greek myths fill my art and my printmaking with theme and motif.
My creative roots are in the San Francisco poster movement which began in the utopian spirit of social experimentation in the Haight-Ashbury, where I live today. I look sometimes at my early rock poster work through be-mused glass; music was viewed as “therapy” by the Greeks. Confirmation that the ancients were well-attuned. Anyone who knows the rock concert experience as I do, knows rock fans feel this way still today.
Art for music concerts is a popular business, something with which the fine art world may be uncomfortable. In a democracy full of popular businesses, Art recently realizes it is also one. I hope my art serves as a democratizing influence in the sphere of fine art and in the culture at large.
Since the election of November 2016, I’ve refocussed on my political motivations, and I’ve aimed to make a social impact with my work. Following the popularity of my 2011 Occupy poster “This Is Our City, And We Can Shut It Down” I created a related typographic propaganda poster for the Women’s March of January 2017, “Resist Sexism, Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Ignorance, Corruption and Hate.”
I made another poster which became emblematic of the March for Science of April 22, 2017.
I was pleased to see that my March for Science posters reached the lectern of the demonstration where keynote speaker Bill Nye posed with NASA astronaut Leland Melvin alongside my poster image. My Women’s March poster and my Occupy poster were recognized by inclusion in the United States Library of Congress and in exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It’s sincerely gratifying to receive institutional recognition, but the pressing point is to open minds and to inspire participation in our democratic society.
Long ago as a teen I was packed off to college with Will and Ariel Durant’s eleven volume “Story of Civilization” by my enlightened parents who felt these books a necessary provision for well-rounded citizenship. I am always most drawn to volume 2, “The Life of Greece.” I re-read this book constantly.
The Will Durant passage above — which describes the ancient Greek institution of democratic ostracism — was part of my inspiration for my newest art print “The Ostracon.” His words describing ancient greek polity spark thoughts of a vibrant, if messy and flawed, democracy. Today’s news is filled with a similar vibrance and messiness: impeachment, investigations, and a series of scandalous banishments. American democracy has been going through unimaginable upheavals in the last year; ostracism is in the air.
In researching more deeply into ostracism, I encountered the words of august archeologist Professor John McK Camp II, Director of the Agora Excavations of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and professor of classics at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. I contacted him to ask permission to attach his words to my art; he generously agreed. Prof. John Camp offers — in a spirit of openness and possibility — the concept of democratic ostracism as an interesting solution in this peculiar era of American democracy:
“The United States has borrowed lots from the ancient Greeks, including such bedrock items as architecture, the Olympics, coinage, theater, and, most important, the concept of democracy. Visitors to Athens can still view the official drinking cups and tableware used in the 5th century BC, when legislators were wined and dined at state expense. Not much, in fact, has changed since antiquity except the technology.
“One aspect of ancient political life has not been adopted, however, and perhaps it’s time to bring it back: ostracism. Once a year the Athenians would meet and vote on a simple question: Is anyone aiming at a tyranny, is anyone becoming a threat to the democracy? If a simple majority voted yes, then they dispersed and reassembled two months later. They brought with them their ostracon (a fragment of pottery), on which they had scratched the name of the person they thought represented a threat. The man with the most votes lost. He was exiled for 10 years, and this was thought to calm any anti-democratic leanings he might have.”
— John McK Camp II,
(From “Ostracized in Athens,” The New York Times, July 24, 2003 by permission of the author)
By squirt
Spoke SF is pleased to present SERIGRAPH INVITATIONAL, a dynamic group exhibition celebrating screen printing and analog print making as both a medium and a process. This comprehensive survey includes artists from a wide variety of genres including:
Florian Bertmer, Bungaloo, Burlesque Design, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Rhys Cooper, Craig Drake, Matt Dye, Jeremy Fish, Jayde Fish, Icy & Sot, Nikita Kaun, Landland, Aj Masthay, David Moscati, Prefab77, Jermaine Rogers, Justin Santora, Snik, Chuck Sperry, Marq Spusta, Matt Taylor, Jeff Wood and Zoltron
RSVP for opening night via the event page here.
All prints will be available first to attendees at the opening reception on a first come, first served basis and later online. Pre-sales will not be available for this exhibition.
I will be presenting a very limited oak panel edition of “Demeter” at Spoke Art for this show.
Spoke Art will have an allocation of Sperry’s edition on oak panel on opening night only.
Read more about Chuck Sperry & his newest art book here
By squirt
Jerry Garcia (Winter), 2017
21 x 32
Edition of 500
9 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered
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Introducing “Built To Last”, the fourth and final print in our portrait series with acclaimed artist Chuck Sperry. A limited edition run of 500 prints will be released at GarciaFamilyProvisions.com between 2pm EST and 5pm EST on Tuesday, November 21st. As with prior releases, prints will be restricted to 1 print per fan/household. Subscribe to the Jerry Garcia Newsletter at JerryGarcia.com to be among the first to receive notice when the prints are released.
The Fourth and final in a series of four screen-prints from renowned artist Chuck Sperry celebrating Jerry’s life and legacy. Each print is signed & numbered by the artist in an edition of 500.
“My fourth and final print in my portrait series, “Jerry Garcia (Winter)”, seeks to capture the wisdom and compassion of the Grateful Dead’s lead guitarist. Jerry anchored the concert hall with his good nature, while a wild, free improvisation swirled through him and around him. I wove a psychedelic paisley pattern throughout the design – and running through the iconic black t-shirt area as a matte and glaze black effect – rendered in nine colors, including bright hues, hand-blended metallics and translucent glazes. My aim is to portray the evolved Jerry, the enlightened artist who radiated peace, wisdom and compassion, and made music that was “Built to Last” – Chuck Sperry
I will be making a very limited release of my fourth and final Jerry Garcia portrait, a very special book signing of “Helikon”, and multiple print and wood panel releases – Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 2 pm – through Spoke Art Gallery at Context Art Fair during Art Basel Miami.
As an added bonus, the Dead & Co will be performing in the Miami area the next night (Friday), so twice as many reasons to come join us in Miami for a fun art-filled weekend!
Read More: Sperry’s beautiful new art book, “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” (2017)
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…
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