Leni Sinclair, Gary Grimshaw, 1973, Photograph [[detail)
Tuesday, February 4th 6 pm
PSYCHEDELIC SPIRIT:
The Art & Times of Gary Grimshaw
Free and open to the public
Please join as we host a gallery talk by Cary Loren. The talk, titled PSYCHEDELIC SPIRIT: The Art & Times of Gary Grimshaw, will focus on the life and work of the artist, who died January 13th, 2013.
Gary Grimshaw was a graphic artist of exceptional talent who has an extraordinary history and character. He was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the start of his career Grimshaw became well known as the Grande Ballroom artist and later as the MC5 artist. These works stand out as the centerpiece of an enormously prolific output of art from the mid-1960's to the late 1970's. He became part of a dynamic collective of intellectuals, promoters, poets, artists, musicians-people that spent many years together in some form or another and in different circles of interest.
As a Vietnam veteran he was an anti-war activist and a key player in the White Panther Party; he worked to reform unfair law and unjust incarcerations. His contribution was through art and his art inspired and energized the people. He was a member of Trans-Love Energies and The Rainbow People's Party. He worked on newspapers, magazines, did posters to advertise music events and record album covers. Gary worked with Underground Press Syndicate icons The San Francisco Oracle and the Ann Arbor Sun.
Grimshaw completed a book with Leni Sinclair documenting this celebrated era in the history of Detroit. It features a sample of his enormous output during the first fifteen years of his career and dynamic photography of his friend Leni Sinclair and is called "Detroit Rocks!". Back in the late seventies he also worked with the legendary rock magazine Creem as an associate art director. During this time he and his then-wife had a son named Alan Morgan Grimshaw. Gary's son continues the Grimshaw art and design tradition with his own career.
His work has shown at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Toledo Art Museum, the College for Creative Studies, the Flint Institute of Arts, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Eastern Michigan University premier art gallery. He has enjoyed recognition in print and in various documentaries as well. His Seagull design makes an appearance in a Johnny Depp film, Dark Shadows by Tim Burton. Grimshaw's work has been referenced in countless books and other publications, including The Art of Rock [[Abbeville Press, 1988) and an update on music posters published by Chronicle Books in 2004, called The Art of Modern Rock.
Grimshaw's solo exhibition will be shown at the Scarab Club throughSaturday, February 15th.
About the Speaker
Cary Loren was selected as a 2013 Kresge Artist Fellow and is the owner of Book Beat, in Oak Park. His writing career began with self-published art zines in the 1970s. Loren has published one obscure novella in Dutch, poetry [[as lyricist for Destroy All Monsters and Monster Island). He also maintains a blog where he posts essays on the arts. Together with his wife Colleen Kammer, Loren runs The Book Beat, an independent bookstore in Oak Park, Michigan where he facilitates a discussion group on world literature. His works in progress include a book-length study of the Detroit Artists Workshop and biographical text for a photography book on Leni Sinclair. His interests lie in regional histories, collage and the fragmentation and collision of culture and politics. Loren also makes zines, videos, music and art. |
