The theme for our calendar for the month of April is Earth Day, the world’s largest environmental movement. There will be over 1,300 cleanups around the U.S. with a global cleanup the largest environmental volunteer event in history. This month’s design was inspired by artist Rick Griffin and his art from the San Francisco music scene in the 1960s. Read more about the artist, the quintessential rock ‘n’ roll poster artist.
A Southern California surfer, Rick Griffin worked as staff artist at Surfer magazine, drawing cartoons such as Murphy, the quintessential surfing gremmie. Griffin’s work at Surfer gave little indication of his later ability to create intricately drawn figures and psychedelic letterforms. After a brief stint at Chouinard art school, Griffin hit the road, traveling and playing in a band. When bandmates summoned him to San Francisco to check out the scene, Griffin was immediately hooked. As he began producing dance posters, album covers and advertisements, Griffin’s cartoony sensibility soon gave way to a masterful lettering technique along with odd characters and drug-induced images. Rick Griffin was killed in a motorcycle crash much too early in his life in August 1991. He was 47.
This artwork is one of a series from our 2019 Flashback calendar, and was created in our drug-free studios in Carlsbad, California.
Learn more about our 2019 calendar >
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