Rick Griffin
Biography
Richard Alden “Rick” Griffin (June 18, 1944 – August 18, 1991) came of age in Southern California’s booming early-’60s surf culture. At sixteen he was recruited by SURFER magazine, and in 1961 launched the comic strip “Murphy” — a perma-stoked “gremmie” who became one of surf culture’s most recognizable icons.
After the Acid Tests, Griffin settled in San Francisco around 1966, just as the poster renaissance ignited. He became closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing posters and album covers (most famously Aoxomoxoa), and produced concert posters for the Family Dog at the Avalon and, from 1968, for Bill Graham’s Fillmore. He was a founder of the poster-marketing venture Berkeley Bonaparte (1967).
His life turned when he became a born-again Christian around 1970, reshaping his art toward religious imagery — though he never abandoned his psychedelic, surf, and underground roots, and a core member of the Zap Comix collective (he joined at the second issue, after R. Crumb’s solo first). He died in 1991 at 47, of head injuries three days after a motorcycle accident near Petaluma.
Why They Matter
Griffin fused two distinctly American visual languages — surf-culture cartooning and psychedelic poster art — into a singular, instantly recognizable style. His hallmark was lettering: liquid, organic, almost-illegible typography that dissolved words into pure ornament. Combined with hot-rod iconography (eyeballs, flames, skulls) and a meticulous comics-trained line, his posters achieved a density and symbolic depth that set them apart.
One of the “Big Five” SF poster artists, he crossed media in a way few did: a pillar of rock-poster art, a central figure of underground comix through Zap, and a lasting icon of surf culture. His Aoxomoxoa cover is held by MoMA.
Notable Works
- Grateful Dead — Aoxomoxoa album cover (1969), his most celebrated single image, a palindromic meditation on life and death; widely regarded as his masterpiece (held by MoMA).
- The “Flying Eyeball” poster (BG-105, 1968) for a Jimi Hendrix Fillmore show — perhaps the single most iconic image of the SF poster era.
- “Murphy” (SURFER, from 1961).
- One of the Human Be-In posters (January 1967) — several artists made separate posters for the event.
- Zap Comix contributions.
- His post-conversion Gospel of John illustrations.