PACIFIC VIBRATIONS | THE ART OF RICK GRIFFIN 

Opening Night: Saturday, July 18th from 6-9 pm​

​​

A highly anticipated, exclusive preview exhibition celebrating renowned Californian artist Rick Griffin is set to launch at the Adler\Smith Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. The pop-up serves as a high-density showcase of the artist’s most career-defining works, marking the kickoff of a multi-year initiative to further establish Griffin’s legacy as a vital American cultural icon.

​

Known primarily for his wildly distinctive psychedelic rock music poster and album cover imagery during the late-1960s, Griffin’s innovative, often disruptive art work transcended a number of influential cultural epochs and genres, ranging from early Southern Californian surfing to San Francisco’s “Summer of Love”, from subversive underground comic illustrations to fabulously reimagined Christian iconography; from The Grateful Dead to The Cult.

 

This meticulously-curated exhibition provides an unprecedented perspective on the disparate genres that Griffin mastered, and, in many cases, made his own. Iconic “Murphy” cartoons from the pages of Surfer Magazine, the famous “Flying Eyeball” Jimi Hendrix concert poster, his epic “Pacific Vibrations” painting, the extraordinary reworking of the “The Gospel of John” parables, unforgettable album art and never-before-seen studies of his most famous pieces; the walls of the Adler\Smith Gallery will literally pulse with the remarkable vibrancy that became Rick Griffin’s trademark.

​

“There’s just something that happens when you get to see the line work and the way he worked with color up close and in person,” says Flaven Griffin-Clayton, the late artist’s eldest daughter, emphasizing the rare opportunity of viewing the original pieces firsthand. “Like with the famed “Flying Eyeball”. To see the line work and the detail is just really amazing. I’ve seen the poster a million times, but seeing

the original work brought tears to my eyes.”

​

The Santa Monica event will also act as a visual launchpad for an upcoming, full-length feature documentary, produced by The Rick Griffin PACT and co-directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Stacy Peralta and Sam George.