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There is no other event that reflects the true optimism of what was best about the 60’s than the Human BE-IN which was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967. The poster designed for this event not only exemplified the roots of the Sixties counter-culture in the best light, but also brought the artist to fame as being perhaps the best psychedelic artist of the entire Sixties – Rick Griffin.
Having just arrived in San Francisco a short time prior to the event, Rick was already a talented artist having created and drawn “Murph the Surf” cartoons for Surfer Magazine in Southern California. However Rick’s tenure at Surfer Magazine had come to an end as Rick’s lifestyle into the gradual and steady use of drugs became just too much of an influence on "Murph the Surf’s" escapades in the magazine to please the founder John Severson, so Rick departed and took off for some extended surfing trips to Mexico and later became involved with a group of creative artists and musicians known as the Jook Savages.
During this time, Rick started to see the psychedelic art that was emerging from the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco and decided to travel up North to check out what was happening. Shortly after arriving he got two gigs - one for the psychedelic shop featuring the Jook Savages and the other from the organizers of the Human BE-IN. The organizers had seen Rick's first poster and were so impressed that they asked him to design a poster for their upcoming event and as one might say, "THE REST IS HISTORY!"
The Human BE—IN combined all the best of the Sixties optimism signifying personal empowerment, cultural and political change, ecological awareness, getting in tune with a higher consciousness, often with the use of drugs – but best of all a view the world should be filled with peace, love, fun and great music.
Not only was the Human BE-IN a huge success, with a crowd estimated of upward to 30,000 but it was the event that set the stage for the “Summer of Love” throughout the world.
Now what could be better than the original poster for this event? Only one thing - the original ARTWORK! An amazing piece of art that is far different from the typical "cut and paste" graphic art that was being done for posters during this period. Hand drawn from start to finish with an image created in Rick's mind moving to his eyes and through his hands, until pen and ink touched the canvas. It truly shows what a great artist is capable of creating from their own personal vision and artistic talents.
A priceless and iconic piece of the Sixties by perhaps the best Artist during this magical time – nothing gets better than this to start 2014 or for that matter any other year since 1967! |
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