Heart and Torch: Rick Griffin's Transcendence

Rick Griffin was one of three or four quintessential American designers of the late 1960s. His marriage of comics, surrealism, art nouveau, and symbolism into a decided visual language of sex, drugs, and rock and roll helped define un era that, contrary to revisionist theory, was the most unique of the late twentieth century. From Griffin's emblematic logo for Rolling Stone to his opus in typographical gibberish, Man from Utopia, Griffin was a linchpin of the psychedelic epoch.

-STEVEN HELLER, ART DIRECTOR OF THE New York Times Book Review, EDITOR OF THE AIGA Journal of Graphic Design

To me, Rick Griffin embodied that era more than all the other artists, as good as they were some of them, because he came out of the surf culture, which was one of the most direct tributaries to the counter culture revolution of the sixties-that same middle class rebellion that was the hippies.'

- JANN WENNER, CO-FOUNDER OF Rolling Stone MAGAZINE AND FOUNDER OF THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Rick Griffin. A Genius. How on earth did he come up with all this stuff? Oh, I know-LSD. His San Francisco poster for the Doors is the best psychedelic poster we ever had done.

-RAY MANZAREK, CO-FOUNDER AND KEYBOARDIST OF THE DOORS

Presented in a lush oversize format, this comprehensive, career-spanning catalog features work from an exhibition organized by Laguna Art Museum. Heart and Torch: Rick Griffin s Transcendence is the first book and major museum retrospective to focus exclusively on Griffin s life s work. A cult figure that set the iconographic terrain for three distinct west coast subcultures, Griffin has been hugely influential on contemporary visual culture. Rick Griffin's poster art for seminal psychedelic era rock concerts is the stuff of legend, simultaneously his illustration work for surf magazines and cartoons for underground comics have arguably had equal impact in their respective genres. Less well known, but equally compelling is the impressive body of work Griffin created as a born again Christian starting in the early 1970's up until his untimely death in 1991. This fascinating book includes in-depth essays by Doug Harvey and Greg Escalante a foreword by Bolton Colburn, an interview with Chuck Fromm and further writing about Griffin by Chaz Bojorquez, Gordon McClelland and Jacaeber Kastor.