The Griffin flies high

Rick Griffin is a psychedelic designer born around Palos Verdes, California on June 18, 1944. Having grown up around Surf culture, he would produce drawings for the surf comic strip “Murphy” for Surf Magazine. He would attend Chouinard Art Institute, now known as CalArts for a brief period of time. During this time he would associate with a group of artists known as the Jook Savages.

Rick Griffin’s career in poster design would start after being inspired by the works of Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse. His first exhibition would be with the Jook Savages for one year anniversary of a psychedelic shop in San Francisco. 

In 1967, he would team up with Kelly, Mouse, and a few others to found Berkeley Bonaparte. This company would specialize in making psychedelic posters.

Griffin also produced works for Zap Comix. Notably, Promethean Enterprises and Man from Utopia.

More Selected Works