Chuck Sperry

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September 18, 2022 By squirt

The Sperry Collectible Card Set • Series 1

I’m very excited to announce the first in a series of premium collectible card sets featuring a curated selection of the most popular rock posters and prints from my extensive archive. 

The Sperry Collectible Card Set was artfully designed by renown art photographer and premium book designer Shaun Roberts, and it was edited by us both. We are thrilled to present this newest collaboration!

The set comes in a gorgeous fire red, smooth, sturdy portfolio fold box with a secure magnetic snap closure. Title and signature is in gold emboss. The inside cover is gloss printed with a beautiful floral pattern over red, as is the black bumper which snugly cradles the deck of poster cards. A red ribbon aids access to the sealed deck of 25 cards.

The cards measure 5.5″ x 8.5″. Each of the 25 collectable cards faithfully present a different classic Sperry poster on the front. On the back of each card are the poster details; surrounding floral decoration is printed in gold and black with a foil stamped signature.

The box comes shrink-wrapped. The cards come cellophane wrapped inside.

Only 1000 were made.


Sold Out. Thank You!

A live release will follow at TRPS Festival of Posters at the Hall of Flowers in San Francisco on October 15.

 

Filed Under: Art Prints Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Color X Color, Harman Projects, Mirus Gallery, Series 1, Sperry Collectible Card Set, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

October 21, 2019 By squirt

“Know Thyself” Blotter & “Psych Out” Poster • Online Release

Between the Psych Out Party in Torino, Italy on October 5, and TRPS Festival of Posters in San Francisco, California on October 19 – I produced two psychedelic art pieces which I’d like to make available to you here. Both pieces were produced in limited quantities, and will be made available in a very limited online release on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at a random time.

“Know Thyself” Blotter
Edition of 200
9 x 11.25
(1/4 inch perforations)
Vegetable based inks 
80# unbleached cotton paper 
Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

________________

Psych Out, 2019
28 x 20
B&W Variant Edition of 10
1 color on cream paper
Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

________________

Psych Out, 2019
28 x 20
Regular Holographic Edition of 50
1 color on lava foil
Signed and Numbered

Sold Out – Thank You!

________________

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Festival of Posters 2019, Psych Out, San Francisco, The Rock Poster Society, Torino, TRPS

September 4, 2019 By squirt

The Rock Poster Society • Festival of Posters 2019

Festival of Rock Posters TRPS with Chuck Sperry

Join us October 19, 2019 for The Rock Poster Society, Festival of Posters in San Francisco’s beautiful Golden Gate Park.

It’s been a Great Year for my art and my printing company Hangar 18! Maybe you can pick up some of those prints you missed at TRPS.

I will have many surprises, rarities, variants, unreleased variants, one-of-a-kind test prints, and black & white tests to offer exclusively at TRPS on Saturday, October 19, 2019!

San Francisco’s annual Fall Clas­sic, the The Rock Poster Society’s Fes­ti­val of Rock Posters is set to go for Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 19th, 2019 at the San Fran­cisco County Fair Build­ing (aka Hall of Flow­ers) in beau­ti­ful Golden Gate Park.

Fea­tur­ing rock poster artists and deal­ers from around the coun­try, this is the biggest rock poster event of its kind any­where. Those of you who have attended this show in the past know that this is the one not to miss. We bring in the best of the best, and you’ll find every­thing from vin­tage psy­che­delic trea­sures to the best of the mod­ern silkscreen move­ment. This year’s ver­sion promises to offer another stel­lar lineup.

The loca­tion is at the cor­ner of Ninth and Lin­coln on the South edge of the Park, not far from the Haight, the DeY­oung Museum, and the Acad­emy of Sci­ences. There are plenty of great restau­rants close by, too. Make it a week­end and bring the fam­ily to enjoy the great weather, an awe­some poster event, and every­thing else San Fran­cisco has to offer.

Festival of Rock Posters: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Hall of Flowers, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park.

Here’s a look back at Sperry’s posters since last October…

Twiddle by Chuck Sperry

WOMENS MARCH Chuck Sperry

Chuck-Sperry-Pangea-Seed

Umphrey's McGee by Chuck Sperry

Dave-Matthews-Band-by-Chuck-Sperry

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chuck Sperry, Festival of Rock Posters, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

October 19, 2018 By squirt

The Rock Poster Society, Festival of Rock Posters 2018

Getting super excited for TRPS this coming Saturday 10 am to 6 pm! I’ll have rare posters, unreleased variants, test prints, recent art prints, very limited oak panels, blotter art, my new books and really cool surprises! See you there for an action-packed Saturday in the Park!

No denying, it’s a great time for my work: TRPS from 10 am to 6 pm; “Hi-Fructose Presents: The Art of the Mushroom” from 7 pm to 10 pm; and all the while my museum solo is running until December 9 at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. The best part is to share Saturday with so many good friends, and with so many inspiring artists. Please join us!

(Yes, there will be a couple of rare Pearl Jam Miami lava foils – shown above – so get in line early!)

Here’s a small taste of some of the goodies you will find at my booth at TRPS…

Widespread Panic Red Rocks, 2018
16 x 35
Mulberry Parchment Variant Edition of 15
5 colors on fine mulberry parchment
Signed and Numbered

Widespread Panic Red Rocks, 2018
16 x 35
Green Swirl Variant Edition of 4
5 colors on green swirl mulberry
Signed and Numbered

Widespread Panic Red Rocks, 2018
16 x 35
Pink Swirl Variant Edition of 3
5 colors on pink swirl mulberry
Signed and Numbered

Published by Hangar 18
Foreward by Josef Zimmerman, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Curator of Contemporary Art
Hardback First Edition of 500 / “Gold Edition”
Gold embossed cover, signed and numbered
9 x 12 inches / 136 pages
75 color illustrations
Printed and bound in the United States

_______________

Published by Hangar 18
Foreward by Josef Zimmerman, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Curator of Contemporary Art
Hardback Second Edition of 1500 / “Silver Edition”
Silver embossed cover
9 x 12 inches / 136 pages
75 color illustrations
Printed and bound in the United States

_______________

San Francisco’s annual Fall Clas­sic, the TRPS Fes­ti­val of Rock Posters is set to go for Sat­ur­day Octo­ber 20th, 2018 at the San Fran­cisco County Fair Build­ing (aka Hall of Flow­ers) in beau­ti­ful Golden Gate Park.

Fea­tur­ing rock poster artists and deal­ers from around the coun­try, this is the biggest rock poster event of its kind any­where. Those of you who have attended this show in the past know that this is the one not to miss. We bring in the best of the best, and you’ll find every­thing from vin­tage psy­che­delic trea­sures to the best of the mod­ern silkscreen move­ment. This year’s ver­sion promises to offer another stel­lar lineup.

The loca­tion is at the cor­ner of Ninth and Lin­coln on the South edge of the Park, not far from the Haight, the DeY­oung Museum, and the Acad­emy of Sci­ences. There are plenty of great restau­rants close by, too. Make it a week­end and bring the fam­ily to enjoy the great weather, an awe­some poster event, and every­thing else San Fran­cisco has to offer.

Festival of Rock Posters: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Hall of Flowers, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park.

Filed Under: Rock Posters Tagged With: Festival of Rock Posters, The Rock Poster Society, TRPS

October 15, 2016 By squirt

The Rock Poster Society • Festival of Posters 2016

chuck-sperry-portrait
Photo credit: Bless Hyperion

screen-shot-2016-10-14-at-6-04-06-pm

The first time Chuck Sperry saw a psychedelic rock poster he was 5 or 6 and had mustered up the nerve to climb the attic stairs into his big brother’s bedroom.

There, pinned to the wall, was a drawing of a fat prop plane with umbrellas. He studied the lettering, then sneaked back up a second time until he could finally make out the words, “Jefferson Airplane, an Ectodelic Trip, Civic Auditorium Dance, June 4, 9-1, $2.25.”

“I remember staring at that poster in the late 60’s while my brother Jody and I recorded The Who’s Tommy in its entirety on a reel-to-reel tape recorder,” said Sperry laughing.

airplane-poster

Sperry followed that poster to Haight-Ashbury, where he found love, an amazing apartment and the charmed life of a poster artist.

He timed it just right to have been selected by art director Arelene Owseichik to join Bill Graham Presents’ “New Fillmore Series” of posters in 1994. His career spanning 500+ handmade, limited edition, screen printed Rock Posters and art prints – not to mention 200+ art shows in over a dozen countries – has not slowed since then.

In fact, Sperry’s career is speeding up; He will have a solo exhibition in New York City at Spoke Art Gallery on November 19, 2016. There he will present his newest wood panels and archived classic rock posters and art prints. He will also present his newest book, “Helikon, The Muses of Chuck Sperry” devoted entirely to his screenprint on wood panels.

vivien-chuck-sperry

“Recently I had the great honor to make five posters – over the last year – for The Who. They gave me massive props by showing my posters on the huge stadium stage screen before and after their concerts. When I saw them in Oakland this year, I thought about my brother and me in 1969 in his room under that Jefferson Airplane poster.”

the-who-oakland-chuck-sperry

On Saturday, Oct. 22, Sperry’s art will proudly be on display at the Festival of Rock Posters in the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

The Festival, put on by the nonprofit all-volunteer Rock Poster Society, is a highly anticipated annual art event. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of the psychedelic rock poster. To honor this important milestone, artists, dealers, and collectors are coming from around the country, to create one of the largest TRPS events to date.

“The psychedelic style stood out from everything else,” says Sperry, now 54, and still a resident of that same apartment in The Haight.

Sperry has lived in The Haight for 26 years, and has worked as an artist for all that time. He’s made shows from Buenos Aires to Paris, Athens to Japan. His art is in the permanent collections of many prominent museums as well as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He owns an art studio/gallery in West Oakland where he regularly hosts very well-attended art shows and open houses. Presently he is working on a series of four Jerry Garcia portraits for the Garcia family’s foundation, which collectors are avidly awaiting.

jerry-web

“Wes Wilson did a series of 10 or 12 posters that ignited all of these other artists to get started,” Sperry says. “Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley,Victor Moscoso, and Rick Griffin were breaking all the printing rules by putting colors like red and blue next to each other, which vibrated the eye. You had to be hip in order to even read the posters. It was really a revolutionary artistic statement.”

According to Ben Marks, vice president of the Rock Poster Society, the style for psychedelic rock posters can be traced to that most un-psychedelic of bands, the Association, singing “Windy” and “Cherish”. It was drawn by Wilson using flames for lettering. If you’ve taken a course in hippie hieroglyphics you can make out the words “July 22-23, Fillmore Auditorium.”’

SONY DSC

“San Francisco’s Psychedelic style completely changed graphic aesthetics around the world,” says Sperry. The 50th anniversary of the Human Be-In is Jan. 14, and that will launch a year of tributes to the Summer of Love. Posters from the Be-In, and other Summer of Love shows will be at the Hall of Flowers and so will three of the artists, Moscoso, Mouse and Wilson, signing posters. Also there, will be Emek and Gary Houston from Portland, Jim Pollock from Chicago, Mark Arminski from Detroit, and Sperry.

Admission fee will decrease as the day goes on. Get there at 10 a.m. and it is $20. At 11 a.m. it drops to $10 and after 3 p.m. it is free. The risk in waiting is that the good stuff may already be gone. The line is expected to form at dawn, with people in lawn chairs.

Last year, Sperry was able to find a mint-condition tour program from the Grateful Dead tour of Egypt, in 1978, for $100. The artist, Mouse, signed it for him, and Chuck was stoked.

“The collectors are so fervent that they want to get their hands on these limited edition posters first thing in the morning,” says Sperry. “We’re talking about a tradition that started in 1966, and there is still this great enthusiasm!”

Festival of Rock Posters: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Hall of Flowers, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park. Admission: $5 for members. For non-members $20 at 10 a.m., $10 at 11 a.m., free after 3 p.m. trps.org

WIDESPREAD-PANIC-CHUCK-SPERRYChuck-Sperry-Dave-MatthewsMORGANA WEB

Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Port Chester & NYC - Crystal Skull Edition of 25Pearl Jam April 9, 2016 Miami, FL poster by Chuck SperryPETE-SPARKLE

Black Sabbath “The End” Tour at Madison Square Garden NYC rock poster by Chuck SperryThe Art of Musical Maintenance 12 event poster by Chuck Sperry - Black Satin Edition of 7

SPERRY-PANIC-WEBWIDESPREAD-PANIC-LAVA-SPERRY

WEB BEATLE BLOTTER - JOHNWEB BEATLE BLOTTER - PAUL

WEB BEATLE BLOTTER - GEORGEWEB BEATLE BLOTTER - RINGO FIXXED

 

dryad-web

Filed Under: News, Press & Reviews Tagged With: Arlene Owseichik, Bill Graham, EMEK, Festival of Rock Posters 2016, Gary Houston, Jim Pollock, Mark Arminski, SFGate, Spoke Art, Stanley Mouse, The Rock Poster Society, Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson

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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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