Rick Griffin

Rick Griffin was a visionary psychedelic artist who came of age during the late 1960s in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Born in June of 1944, Rick Griffin developed a deep appreciation for Native American art while on architectural digs with his father. Griffin's drawing career began when he was in high school, after he successfully re-drew pictures from Mad Magazine.An avid surfer and beach bum, Griffin wandered the California beach scene and soon began writing for a magazine called Surf Fever. While in college, Griffin and several friends went on a road trip which ended in a horrible accident. As a result of this accident, Griffin dislocated his left eye. This incident had a profound effect not only on his psyche but also on his work.After graduating from art school and marrying Ida Pfefferle (another artist), Griffin joined up with a group called Jook Savages. This connection eventually carried him to San Francisco during the height of the 1960s' cultural revolution. While in San Francisco, Griffin met up with four other major psychedelic artists. Together, Griffin and his compatriots developed a psychedelic poster art group, called Berkley-Bonaparte.Griffin quickly gained national and international acclaim. In the late 1970s, Griffin suddenly found religion, and much of his later work focused on holy art (albeit holy art with a psychedelic twist). In 1989, Griffin was killed when his Harley motorcycle went off the road. He is perhaps best remembered for his poster of a flying eyeball on a surfboard, a piece which is at once a quirky surrealist image and a confessional private joke. Rick Griffin fans can find plenty of cool posters and memorabilia celebrating this legendary artist.