EVENTS
THE ROCK ART SHOW
June 27th – July 11th
Featuring Robert Fried’s rock poster art from the 1960s paired with a selection of iconic silkscreen prints by Jim Evans, Bob Gruen, Dave Navarro, and Marian Schwindeman.
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OPENING RECEPTION:
Thursday, June 27, 2024 | 5-7pm
1315 MASS MoCA Way, Bldg 13, 1st FL,
North Adams, MA 01247
This event is free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be served.
From 1967 through 1970, Robert Fried was a member of the San Francisco School of psychedelic poster artists and valued for his technical skill and creative application of the abstract to what would be a commercial end result. Like Victor Moscoso, he was one of the rare SF School poster artists who was formally trained as an artist and graphic designer. Towards the end of the decade, when the demand for posters waned, Fried returned to painting and fine art printmaking. In 1974, Fried and five other Bay Area artists (Gage Taylor, Robert Moon, Bill Martin, Gerald Gooch and Richard Lowenberg) were commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Art to travel to Baja California for a month and prepare materials for an exhibition reflecting their trip. The resulting exhibition entitled, “Baja,” included paintings, prints, watercolors, gouaches, sculptures, assemblages, photographs and films. Unfortunately, Fried suffered a stroke and died on January 9, 1975, the same day as the opening night of the exhibition. Robert Fried was Gary Lichtenstein’s teacher and mentor from 1971 – 1975.
Artist and designer Jim Evans, aka TAZ, learned his trade in the San Francisco underground scene. He has illustrated comics, album covers, rock and film posters, as well as advertising and magazine illustrations. Evans is the founder of the TAZ collaboration, which is responsible for hundreds of gig posters, album covers, and rock ephemera. TAZ has turned out numerous posters for bands like the Foo Fighters, U2, Oasis, Porno For Pyros, Green Day, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys, Ramones, Rage Against The Machine, Wu Tang Clan, Metallica, and Nine Inch Nails. TAZ also did a number of high profile album jackets for The Beastie Boys, Beck, Aerosmith, House of Pain, and Face To Face. TAZ has been exhibited and disseminated worldwide.
Bob Gruen is one of the most well-known and respected photographers in Rock and Roll. By the mid 1970's he was already regarded as one of the foremost documenters of the scene working with major artists such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Kiss and others, also covering the emerging New Wave and Punk bands including The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones & Blondie. Gruen began photographing rock stars with Ike & Tina Turner and served as John Lennon's personal photographer during his time in New York City.
Dave Navarro is a fierce advocate of mental health awareness and all of his artwork is inspired by his own experiences with trauma and depression. Each of Navarro’s creations, from individual paintings to large scale, sculptural installations, tells a story – stories that he hopes will help eradicate the stigmas associated with mental health issues while bridging the divide between those who understand the importance of support and those who don’t. Navarro frequently collaborates with other artists in the field and routinely incorporates visual art within his other creative non-profit initiatives. Navarro’s work has been repeatedly celebrated, not only because of the subject matter it tackles but because he makes sure that a non-profit organization, in some way, shape or form, reaps the benefit.
Marian Schwindeman began her career as a staff photographer for Rock Magazine and The Westport News. She also contributed to The Village Voice, NY Rocker, Circus Magazine, Newsweek and Time, among others. Schwindeman was the founder and publisher of Premiere Magazine and the executive VP of marketing at Entertainment Weekly. Later she held roles as president of global marketing at Polo Ralph Lauren and executive VP of marketing at The Limited. Schwindeman returned to her artwork seriously in 2000. Working in mixed media, her work combines collage, acrylic paint and photography. Schwindeman has exhibited at, among others, Jim Kempner Fine Art, Guy Hepner, MOCA CT, White Colummns Time Square and Jet Set. She is represented by Camp Gallery.