Chuck Sperry

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October 27, 2019 By squirt

Chuck Sperry x Spoke Art at Art Basel / Context Art Fair

Harmonia, 2019
20 x 26.75
Edition of 30
6 colors on oak panel
Signed and Numbered

Harmonia is one of the many new pieces I’ll be showing at Art Basel / Context Art Fair with Spoke Art Gallery – my fifth visit to Art Basel, the premier art fair in the Americas – and I anticipate – the most amazing yet! Hope to see you there!

The CONTEXT Art Miami Pavilion • One Herald Plaza at NE 14th Street, Downtown Miami.
On Biscayne Bay between the Venetian & MacArthur Causeways

Stay tuned to Spoke Art Gallery and its sister gallery Hashimoto Contemporary for various fair exclusives and the nitty gritty of the release!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Art Basel, Caitlin McCormack, Chuck Sperry, Context Art Fair, Dan Lam, Hashimoto Contemporary, Joel Daniel Phillips, Muses, Peter Gronquist, Spoke Art, The Muses of Chuck Sperry

May 17, 2019 By squirt

Popmatters: Ghosts of the Forest “Demonstrates the True Spiritual Power of Rock’n’Roll” • Gorgeous Sperry Print Marks Occasion

Popmatters • May 17, 2019 • by Greg M. Schwartz

Trey Anastasio puts together a unique band for a special tour in tribute to a departed friend and delivers a mystical experience that demonstrates the true spiritual power of rock’n’roll. Gorgeous Sperry print marks the occasion…

Read Entire Article in Popmatters

Read More About Chuck Sperry’s Art

Filed Under: Press & Reviews Tagged With: Berkeley, Chuck Sperry, Ghosts of the Forest, Greek Theatre, Greg M. Schwartz, Muses, Popmatters, The Muses of Chuck Sperry, Trey Anastasio

April 20, 2019 By squirt

Ghosts of the Forest, The Greek Theatre, Berkeley 2019

Ghosts of the Forest, The Greek Theatre, Berkeley 2019
35 x 23
Edition of 600
5 colors on cream paper
Signed and Numbered
Sold Out – Thank You!
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Ghosts of the Forest, The Greek Theatre, Berkeley 2019
35 x 23
Lava Foil Edition of 60
5 colors on holographic lava foil
Signed and Numbered
Sold Out – Thank you!

_____________

The Ghosts of the Forest tour makes its final stop in Berkeley, California tonight. I am honored to have been asked to make the special event poster!

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My new poster will be available at the concert at The Greek Theatre, Berkeley officially through Ghosts of the Forest. There will also be an extremely limited variant available – printed on lava foil paper available at the show!

I’ll be making a very limited online release of my poster and it’s variant on Monday, April 22, 2019 at a random time. 

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Find out more about Chuck Sperry’s art – check out his art books here!

I want to welcome a lot of newcomers to my site! I’ll quickly explain how my releases on my website are conducted. My Ghosts of the Forest posters will be available, right here, in this post on Monday, April 22, 2019 at a random time. A paypal “Buy Now” button will appear under the poster (above) – and the variant image will be revealed with a PayPal “buy now” button – at a random time, and I will announce the price of the posters at the same time. Good luck to everyone, and as always, I am very appreciative of your support!

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Ghosts of the Forest, Muses, The Muses of Chuck Sperry, Trey Anastasio

March 19, 2019 By squirt

Fort Wayne Museum of Art Acquires Sperry Tapestry “Demeter” for Permanent Collection

Thank you Fort Wayne Museum of Art for acquiring my large-scale tapestry Demeter for the permanent collection of the museum. I’m thrilled that Demeter will hold a place in the museum’s collection and inspire future generations.

 

Demeter, 2018 
Chuck Sperry 
82.7 x 126 inches (210 cm x 320 cm) 
Handwoven wool tapestry 

Production 
Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos 

Master Dyer 
Rafael Morquecho 

Weavers 
Antonio Flores
Pedro Ibarra Cazares (aka Solin) 
Abraham Flores
Pedro Ibarra Hernandez 

Semele Tapestry by Chuck Sperry

Excerpts from “Chthoneon, The Art of Chuck Sperry” — Buy Chthoneon Here

I. The Tapestries

I was naturally drawn to realize my work in tapestry because the medium’s many resonances to my production methods, subject matter and themes. It’s archival permanence also appealed to my aim to seek a balance with the ephemerality of my work on paper. 

Historically tapestries have dealt with mythological themes, some of the earliest tapestries being whimsical depictions of Ovid’s Metamorphosis for the titillation of noble classes. I felt it would be interesting to re-envision these same themes in tapestry, reclaiming the divine feminine in a self-empowering way, for a classless milieu that underscores equality and democratic principles. In the 19th Century, William Morris, who championed “Art For All”—an appeal to the “makers” and their democratization of the arts —re-invigorated the ancient art of tapestry, lending me yet another reason to seek out this medium to express my work. 

Having encountered the striking beauty of Damián Ortega’s tapestry “Microchip IV” at the Mexican gallery Kurimanzutto at Art Basel in December 2017, I reached out to this tapestry’s producer Jaime Ashida, director of Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos, in early January of 2018 to pursue the realization of two triptychs: Graces and Thesmophoria. 

I was attracted by Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos’ use of metallics and the subtle shadings of color apparent in the Ortega tapestry. I intuited that this workshop would take great care to realize my subtle textures, transparencies and uses of metallic patterns. As our discourse unfolded I was struck by the depth of understanding and deep commitment that developed between us in the production of these absolutely masterful tapestries: there is a magic that was stirred from the depths of human compassion and belief. 

What has been created in the first year of our joyful collaboration is two-thirds of Graces (Thalia and Semele) and one-third of Thesmophoria (Demeter). Working with the master dyers, weavers, and stitchers of the Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos directed by Jaime Ashida has been a wonderful dream come true.

— Chuck Sperry 

II. The Process of Making… 

In June of 2018, I visited Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos in Guadalajara, Mexico with photographer Shaun Roberts. I wanted to meet Jaime and the Taller team to celebrate the completion of our work together for my museum solo “All Access” at Fort Wayne Museum of Art. I wanted to see these beautiful tapestries in person (each in various stages of finish), meet the makers, raise a glass, break bread, and bring Shaun to document the colors and textures of Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos in a series of photographs. What follows is Shaun Roberts’ photographic exposé of the mastery and care in the many stages of the intricate, time-consuming, age-old tapestry making process.

— Chuck Sperry 

III. Voices of The Workshop: A Triptych

Voice 1: “Chuck managed to decipher the capacity of representation and the possibilities of the particular technique of this tapestry workshop. He observed the textures and colors of the tapestries. The colors, in textiles of the kind, are tactile: it is wool and metallic thread, each color consists of three strands of different shades. I imagine that Chuck must have made an association with the textures achieved in screen printing when it is also combined with acrylic paint and mineral pigments, for example. He talked about the depth of colors, about transparencies, that there is no absolute solid colors, and that there is always a kind of unexpected alchemy taking place. The use of the three different strands for each tone, plus the metallic strands, achieved a richer palette that was evident in the textile translated triptych.

“In collaborative relationships with artists, I like to find those who go as far as possible in the use of the technique and its historical dimension.”

Voice 2: “When I first saw the design of what I would have to weave, I worried a little because I had never done something like that before. I noticed that the metallic finishing was working well and I got excited: it looked amazing! The feeling of tightness in the weaving was palpable, when adding the metal to the mixture of colored wool threads, it hardens and fits naturally in the fabric, that is to say: it helps. The experiment turned out very well and I am proud to have passed the test.”

Voice 3: “The women on the triptych look powerful and full of life, Goddess Creators. They reminded me of the representation of an Amazonian female deity: plenty of bright colors and surrounded by nature under her command to pursue the sake of her people and common causes. We chatted with Chuck about the mythic inversion of stories about female deities and how these goddesses were stripped of many of their attributes in the classic accounts of fundamental myths. Chuck seeks to tell those stories differently, depicting divine and powerful women within his oeuvre. When we said goodbye, the last thing he said was: keep fighting the power.”

— Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos

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American artist Chuck Sperry is known for his ethereal and psychedelically saturated screen prints that draw crowds of dedicated fans around the world. He draws inspiration from graffiti, pop art, Symbolism, Art Nouveau and ukiyo-e.

Moving past his early work devoted to subverting the memes of advertising, trash-culture, and comics — he currently imagines a verdant garden of new work tended by his signature shimmering muses, calling this work a “utopian provocation.”

He has been exhibited throughout The United States and internationally for 25 years, including solo shows in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Athens, Berlin, Zurich, Geneva, Buenos Aires, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

His work has been featured via the Arte Channel, New York Times, Le Parisien, The Guardian (UK), Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, The Huffington Post, RollingStone, Spin, Architectural Digest, and many more.

He currently lives in San Francisco, California.

Filed Under: Art Prints Tagged With: All Access, All Access Exploring Humanism in the Art of Chuck Sperry, Chthoneon The Art of Chuck Sperry, Chuck Sperry, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Muses, Semele, The Muses of Chuck Sperry, Widespread Panic

February 1, 2017 By squirt

“Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” On Sale

 

Chuck Sperry’s new book “Helikon” gathers together his masterfully screen printed wood panel series of contemporary-classical muses: work inspired by the spirit of the modern rock poster, graffiti, and the utopian ethos of 1960’s psychedelia.

“Helikon” presents 36 sumptuously photographed Sperrys paired with the prose or poem — from Homer to Nick Cave — that inspired each. Over a  dozen photos by Shaun Roberts give the reader an intimate portrait of the artist at work.

“Helikon” is Sperry’s beautifully designed, hand-bound coda to 5 years of artwork devoted to the perennial theme of Orphic Dionysian mysteries.

Foreward by New York Times’ bestselling author, Charles Bock, Beautiful Children, Alice & Oliver (Random House), and Best of NYC Culture 2016, Village Voice.

Hangar 18 logo


Published by Hangar 18
Foreward by Charles Bock
Hardback Second Edition of 2000 / “Silver Edition”
Silver embossed cover
9 x 12 inches / 136 pages
54 color illustrations
Printed and bound in the United States
ISBN: 978-0-9981407-1-1

This book will be available again after New Years on January 2.

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“Sperry draws from a deep, classical tradition of storytelling to visualize the famed and obscure characters from mythology. He continues by personifying “Music,” “Justice,” and “Equity” — putting faces on the concepts that seem to inspire his work greatly. Vivid and striking, the works inside Helikon are beautiful on the surface, but combined with the text, both classical and modern, they give insight into the muses that drive Sperry to create.” – Liz Ohanesian, Hi-Fructose, The New Contemporary Art Magazine, vol. 43

San Francisco artist Chuck Sperry has earned his right in the rock ‘n roll hall of fame….. not for music but for his incredible talent of designing and silkscreen printing distinctive rock posters, he has a slew of famous names that he has worked with and his artwork has been exhibited at some leading art and music institutions. Chuck has honed his craft to perfection, with 20 years of experience behind him — Kylie Dexter, Beautiful Bizarre

In Helikon, the words transport us, allowing us to see Sperry’s work through fresh, yet ancient, eyes. Importantly, they drive from our minds thoughts of the transitory — that Tethys was first introduced to the world as a Dave Matthews poster; that Artemis and Naiad made their debuts before fans of the Black Keys; that Olympia, Daphne, Semele, and Thalia were Panic ladies before they were Sperry’s muses. — Ben Marks, Wink Books

 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Helikon, Muses, The Muses of Chuck Sperry

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Latest News

  • Sperry Solo “Universal” Coming to Paris
  • Sperry in Popland 2025 at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
  • Chuck Sperry’s Alice Donut Poster
  • Chuck Sperry’s “The Mystic” & “Iphigenia” Blotters • 
Online Release with EQL
  • Available Now: Chuck Sperry’s Newest Protest Art Poster

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About 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. Learn More…

Archives

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

Latest Blog Posts

  • Sperry Solo “Universal” Coming to Paris
  • Sperry in Popland 2025 at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
  • Chuck Sperry’s Alice Donut Poster
  • Chuck Sperry’s “The Mystic” & “Iphigenia” Blotters • 
Online Release with EQL
  • Available Now: Chuck Sperry’s Newest Protest Art Poster

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