All posts by Pete Mason

2014 marked an incredible year for PhanArt. Not only were incredibly successful PhanArt shows held in Chicago, Las Vegas and in Miami on January 2, the website and logo were redesigned and plans are in place for a greater 2015 with more PhanArt shows amid a growing brand. Great thanks go to Kyle, Alex and Nate for their contributions towards the redesign this past year, Kelley for handling things on a day to day basis and Chris P, Jim, Chris S and Taylor for helping out on the site and at shows. This site could not be possible without you.

Check out the Best of PhanArt from past years.

Once again, through donations of artists and fans alike, PhanArt raised nearly $4,000 to benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, bringing the total raised since 2009 to nearly $19,000 with a couple of fundraisers to come that will push the total well past the $20,000 mark.

Below are some of the best Phish inspired phan art of 2014. Included are honorable mentions plus the top 14 of 2014, with links to buy where items are not sold out.

This list was compiled based on feedback received through the site, on tour, and through Facebook and Twitter. Fans were asked in the past month for some of the best Phish related (non-official) art of 2014 and they responded. I took all suggestions into account and looked at the list and came up with the top 14, as well as honorable mentions.

Remember, the Phanart made in 2014 was amazing and the following is just some of the best. If you think something was overlooked, share what was missed below in the comments section below. Make sure to support these artists and continue the great tradition of the PhanArt community that continues to grow each year.

Oh, and there will be a PhanArt show in Chicago on July 5th, a change from past shows as this show will highlight and feature Grateful Dead inspired art from artists across the 50 years of the Grateful Dead. More details to come soon.

Honorable Mentions of 2014

Jampanties Funky Bitch shorts

Josean Rivera’s Setlist Art

Wingsuit Condom by Chris Nesbit

John Ahrens Summer Tour Driver-in (available here to benefit Mockingbird Foundation)

Ryan Kerrigan’s Chicago Canvas

Terry Werner’s Dick’s Stamp Poster Set

TRiPP’s Dick’s Tryptych

Philly ‘Boy Mann God Shit’ Poster (artist unknown)

Paul and Silas shirts by Brian Kirk

The Top 14 of 2014

#14 Southern Run/SoCo shirt by Lane Phlexner and Mark Reynolds

This shirt was seen at the 8 southern shows on Phish’s Summer Tour. Combining the famous southern liqour and tour dates made this a quick seller, one that was requested by many fans during and after tour. This is one of those tour shirts that you’ll see for years and think ‘Damn, I wish I picked that one up back then.’

#13 Darin Shock Couch Tour 2014

With Couch Tour being a viable replacement for going on tour (shout out to children and responsibility!), the phrase has become its own marketing tool for bands and artists alike. State of Shock Studio’s “Couch Tour” is spot on with the view of how fans enjoy the experience from their own homes. Check out detailed photos on Shock’s website. Fall variants and Couch Tour shirts are available as well.

#12 Serlo Icculus 1.0

Mark Serlo brings Icculus to life with this pin. Seemingly etched from stone, Icculus resembles the Nome King from Return to Oz.

#11 Scottie Chapman “Your Trip is Short” stickers

Take the Batman slapping Robin meme and add in a contradiction between fan bases and you have a hilarious sticker. Add Trey to the ‘Core Four’ and this sticker has a second wind of smart hilarity, although not all will get the ‘Your Trip is Short’ reference. Either way, this sticker is a trip. Order one by emailing rusticambiance@gmail.com

#10 Jon Rose’s Dick’s Print

This poster is thick with ink and was last seen dancing to “Dick’s Simple” near the soundboard. That’s how strong a poster this is – Jon Rose once again made an incredible poster to commemorate the fourth year of Phish at Dick’s.

#9 Ariane Davis Seven Below

A wonderfully inventive snowflake pin with great symmetry to represent the theme of “Seven Below”.

#8 Isadora Bullock SPAC Fuego

Isadora continues a great run over the past few years with the SPAC Fuego, a vibrant and eye-catching linocut that was in high demand, leading to shirts being printed in the fall with the now iconic design. The edition of 150 sold out this summer amid great demand.

#7 Wookles Shooter/Weapons pin sets

Smart art means getting creative and these are some of the smartest art of 2014. Six-shooters (LE 150 each) with bullet-specific-designs under the bullet holes, combined with bullets (LE 100 each) that contain a theme (band member nicknames, animals, etc…) make the bullet/shooters by Wookles a winner. But Wookles went a step further with his weapons sets (LE 150 each), adding relative weaponry to accompany various songs or onamonapia to create complimentary sets of pins that were immediate hits.

#6 Otto SPAC

Otto had a pretty good year among his various artistic endeavors, seen here, and among them is his SPAC print. This gorgeous poster features an equally gorgeous girl dancing and looking up the to heavens, draped in the red white and blue. This frame job captures the beauty of the print and the weekend all at once.

#5 Jay Rizzi/Cat Zachar Orange Beach 2014

This poster caught my eye leaving Orange Beach on August 1 for multiple reasons – the detail, the waves and the ink/paper combo. Details are worked subtly in throughout the entire print, all the way down the curls of the waves. Using a combination of water color, pen, ink and digital media and printed on metallic linen paper for an illustrious yet surprisingly thin combination that was snapped up by a lucky few in an edition of only 42. Rizzi’s Fall Tour prints were quite the detailed hit as well.

#4 Sam Sutton/Dave Bangert “JEMP Truck” slider pin

Created based on one of the final and lasting memories of 2013, Sam Sutton takes the JEMP truck, incorporates the band’s setup in the middle of MSG on 12/31/13 and added in sliders that allow the band to rise up from inside the truck, much like the stage itself rose up once the truck’s roof was blown off. Fun fact – this edition of 100 sold out in 28 seconds.

#3 Jiggs “Martian Monster” shirt

Jiggs has come up with a few vintage poster and shirt designs for the Halloween shows and ‘You’re About to Blast Off’ is one of the best. Jiggs explains how he came up with the design: “It all started when I was pretending to work for the Phish Bill and I created the “They Attack”/Hitchcock mock up. The rest of the ideas just flowed from “What if these Phish songs were advertised as their own movies?” And with that, you have Jiggs’ “Martian Monster”, “They Attack”, “Your Pet Cat” and “The Dogs” available now.

#2 Andrew Bryant and Josh Lang “Knife in Lights” pin

This pin collaboration from Andrew Bryant (Band in Lights) and Josh Lang (Pin Me Down) mixes Bryant’s ‘Band in Lights’ design along with a three dimensional aspect of lights that swing out from an interior shell ala a Swiss Army knife. Quality and an inventive approach that matches well with the design.

#1 Brian Bojo – Phifty-Two Weeks

Top honors this year go to Brian Bojo for his year long effort to create 52 unique pieces of Phan Art. The 52 pieces make one broader piece of art, combining mediums and time, leading to a broad expression of the influence of Phish’s music and community. Bojo has created a lasting art series with Phifty-Two Weeks. A gallery of some of his 52 weeks can be seen below with the rest visible at phiftytwoweeks.com.

Congrats to Brian and all the Best of PhanArt 2014!

fine art

EMEK’s Jelly Blossoms

January 23, 2015 Pete Mason Leave a comment

From EMEK comes a Limited Edition Art Print available until February 1. Two versions of ‘Jelly Blossoms’ are for sale, both printed on foil paper; one has a “Blue Sky”, where the foil only shows through parts of the jellyfish and the flowers; the other has “No Sky”. On both versions, the pink and the yellow glow in the dark. The white boarder is printed onto the foil paper.

You can order as many as you want of this print and sales end February 1 at 11:59PM. The number ordered will determine the size of each edition. Prints measure 12×12 and cost $25 each, plus shipping. To order a print, visit EMEK’s store and click on the ‘Timed release’ image to open the sale page.

Please be aware that these will not be printed until the sale ends and edition size is determined. Prints will ship 3-5 weeks after sales close.

Dead Art

The Earliest Fan Art – Grateful Dead Mail Order Envelopes

January 21, 2015 Pete Mason Leave a comment

With the announcement of ‘Fare Thee Well’ and an old school mail order period that resulted in thousands to ticket requests sent in the old-fashioned way, a style of art that has thus far disappeared with the advent of online ticket lotteries has made a resurgence, if only for a brief time.

Grateful Dead fans have made their mail order request envelopes unique in the past and fans both new and old took great efforts to make art out of their envelopes. With the advent of social media, fans can share these before they head off to be fulfilled (fingers crossed) and the envelopes (hopefully) used as part of a future exhibit to showcase the love for the music of the Grateful Dead.

Thanks to folks who posted on the PhanArt Facebook Page, Deadheadland and Treyfuldeadmemes for sharing some of these envelopes and check out an extensive historical archive of envelopes via Grateful Dead Online Archive. If you want your envelope featured, add a photo to this post on Facebook or email phanart@gmail.com.

media, reviews

Photo Gallery: The PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition in Miami, January 2nd, 2015

January 14, 2015 Pete Mason Leave a comment

A look at the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition held in Miami, Florida on January 2 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. 27 artists exhibited their art to 2,000 fans throughout the day, with a special musical performance by Holly Bowling. Check out the local coverage of the event and photo gallery below.

Miami Herald photo gallery

Miami New Times Phish’s New Year’s Run 2015 in Miami: Ten Weirdest Works of Phan Art

Concert Posters

EMEK Umphrey’s McGee New Years Run Prints

January 14, 2015 Pete Mason Leave a comment

To celebrate Umphrey’s McGee’s first ever sold out 5 night NYE run in Atlanta, EMEK designed an incredible poster, “NYE Dancing Robot Goddess”.

The remainder of this signed, numbered, embossed and doodled limited artist’s edition of 100 is printed on pearl paper, measures 12” x 36” and is a silkscreen. The price is $100 + shipping. ONE POSTER PER PERSON PLEASE.

Please visit Emek’s webstore on Thursday, January 15 and the The BUY NOW buttons will appear sometime between
12:00pm and 12:30pm PST.

If there is an issue with your order please email emek@emek.net

Apparel, Concert Posters, Posters, shirts, stickers and pins

Exclusive Art Available at the Miami PhanArt Show on January 2

December 23, 2014 Pete Mason Leave a comment

The PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami, held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on January 2 from 12pm-5pm, will feature 27 artists with exclusive art for sale. Stay tuned to this page for updates throughout the next week to see what other exclusive art will be on hand at the PhanArt Show!

Michael Boyer

Michael Boyer’s Miami New Years 4 Color Screen Printed Poster. Made with the phinest UV cured inks including a shiny shiny blue tinted gloss layer. 12″ x 24″ edition of 200.

Jampanties

Jampanties are bringing out the old look new style panties. Same Page Side Rage Side feel but now on American Apparel. The switch was made for better quality and to fit ALL sizes.

Isadora Bullock

“Feathered Creatures” is a 3 layer linocut with a 3 color fade in a limited edition of 125

Ryan Kerrigan

Quite a few deals from Ryan Kerrigan!

2009 miami prints, edition of 100, only a couple left, $25
2014 miami prints, edition of 100, $20, three-for-$50
2014 miami canvases, edition of 15, $80
2014 miami happy fish pin, edition of 100, $15 each, two-for-$25
2014 miami stickers, $2 each, three for $5, ten for $10
2014 miami magnet trey pin set, edition of 150, $60/set
2014 glow in the dark AQUARIUM silkscreened print, edition of 100, $20 each, three-for-$50
2014 phall tour sticker, $2 each, three-for-$5, ten-for $10
Thank you for the first thirty years tshirt, edition of 100, $20 each, or free with $100 purchase

The Shakedown Shop

Super Rad Cape Co.

These one of a kind exclusive themed capes are inspired by Phish’s recent Halloween performance and other Phish songs. Each cape is one of a kind and all are unparalleled in their quality of construction and design. Since there are only one of each of these, they will go fast! We will also have variety of our other sequined capes ranging in size from children to adults!

Bruce Horan

This 3 color screen print measures 16″ x 20″ in an edition of 50 and costs $20.

Brian Bojo Phifty-Two Weeks

Bojo’s final PhiftyTwoWeeks project is designed to be a companion/complimentary print to his Famous Mockingbird print. Called “The End”, the end of 52 weeks of great art in a great year, the end of TMWSIY, the end of Evil King Wilson. “The End” is printed as a color show print for Miami (edition 52) – there is also a black ink art print (edition 52).

StuPINdous Creations

“Where Palm trees dipped and seagulls swerved” is a screen printed shirt in a limited edition of 50 on orange soft style Gildan cotton/poly blend and available only at the show. Additionally, the remaining 30 Miami pins will also only be available at the show.

Otto Art

The very last Otto Art print before a long awaited hiatus, will come in 2 different editions: the Main Neon Green Edition of 60 and the Variant Neon Pink Edition of only 15 will be available exclusively at the Phanart Exhibition. This print will only be available in Miami, with NO online sales. All prints are hand drawn, Hand printed, signed and Numbered on heavy 100lb card stock paper. Prints feature a glow in the dark layer, and a Metallic Split Fountain layer.

Pin Me Down

The Hobbs and Crocket Miami Vice ghosts are show exclusives from Pin Me Down, as well as 9 other additional brand new designs dropping exclusively at the show!

Posters, shirts, stickers and pins

Dylan, Cash and The Nashville Cats Exhibit to Feature Jon Langford Artwork

December 17, 2014 Pete Mason Leave a comment

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum has unveiled the artwork for its forthcoming exhibit Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City. Created by renowned artist and punk rocker Jon Langford, the commissioned painting will serve as the exhibit motif and inspiration for other artistic elements in the exhibit design. The exhibit opens March 27, 2015 for a two-year run.

Langford is a founding member of influential punk band the Mekons and of pioneering hard-country rockers the Waco Brothers. He was born in Newport, Wales, and studied fine art at Leeds University. Langford is known for his powerful portraits of country and rock icons, including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley. His punk rock instincts and singular artistic eye converge in a painting style that is distinctive, demanding of engagement, and at times politically charged. For Langford, the line between Acuff-Rose and Strummer-Jones is a direct one. His preferred medium is acrylic/mixed media on “square-ish wooden objects.

The exhibit logo is intricately layered in Langford’s characteristic style. It features portraits of ’60s-era Dylan and Cash, the cityscape as seen on the back cover of Dylan’s 1969 album, Nashville Skyline, and a background of exhibit-related graffiti—including names of the featured musicians, song titles, lyrics and symbols of the era.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in addition to its broad scope of educational programs and archival focus, is widely known for its provocative mix of museum exhibits showcasing the evolving history of country music. The Nashville institution’s core exhibition is enhanced by numerous limited-engagement exhibits. In 2014 those have included focuses on Glen Campbell, Crystal Gayle, Alan Jackson, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Ralph Peer, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rogers, and The Bakersfield Sound.

Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats looks at the Nashville music scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bob Dylan bucked executives at his record label and surprised his fans when he came to Nashville in 1966 to record his classic album Blonde on Blonde. Working with the city’s unmatched session musicians, Dylan produced a rock & roll masterpiece and went on to record two more albums there. Dylan’s embrace of Nashville and its musicians—the Nashville Cats—inspired many other artists, among them Neil Young, Joan Baez, Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen, to follow him to Music City. Around the same time, Johnny Cash was recruiting folk and rock musicians—including Dylan—to appear on his groundbreaking network television show, The Johnny Cash Show, shot at the Ryman Auditorium, at that time home of the Grand Ole Opry.

media, Phish news, Posters, shirts, stickers and pins

Announcing the Lineup for the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami

December 15, 2014 Pete Mason Leave a comment

The PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami, featuring a wide variety of artists who draw inspiration from the music of Phish, will be held on Friday, January 2, 2015 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132. This one of a kind art show, created and produced by Pete Mason, will be held on the third day of Phish’s four night stand at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, only a 5 block walk from the Arsht Center.

The lineup announced for the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami represents a wide array of artists from among the Phish art community. Longtime Phish artists Ryan Kerrigan, TRiPP, Isadora Bullock, Michael Boyer, StuPINdous Creations, Pompeii Prints, Bruce Horan and Fred Sutter are regular exhibitors at PhanArt shows and fans can expect to find a large portfolio from each artist of current and past art.

Pin makers and designers MYFE. Designs, Party Time Pins, Noah Phence, Pin me Down, Dr. Wookles, Cactusbomb, Pinsanity Designs, and Ant Pharms Pins will feature their ever-popular pin series and designs, as well as other items made specifically for the Miami shows.

First time exhibitors to the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition include Sweet Melis, Otto Art, Brian Bojo’s Phifty-Two Weeks, Golden Road Gallery, Jampanties, Ebbleberry Designs, Super Rad Cape Co, Highly Concerned Enterprises, Brendan Nicolan and The Shakedown Shop. Each of these exhibitors brings something new to the show, be it posters, clothing, underwear, a year-long art project, children’s clothing and much more.

A musical performance from San Francisco-based pianist Holly Bowling will take place throughout the art show, with performances on the hour from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The sets will feature Phish songs arranged for solo piano and several “jam transcriptions”, including a complete rendition of the ‘Tahoe Tweezer’ during the final hour, beginning at 4 pm. Check out Holly’s previous performances with Marco Benevento and at her own solo gig in San Francisco during this past year’s Bill Graham Run. For updates on the performance and more information please visit Holly’s Facebook page.

Non-profits benefitting from the PhanArt show include The Mockingbird Foundation, which has awarded grants for music education totaling more than $800,000 over the past 15 years. PhanArt has raised, through a book and website created to showcase the art made by Phish fans, over $18,000 for The Mockingbird Foundation since 2009.

Phish Art shows have been held since 2003 with great success. Unique posters, pins, shirts, stickers and much more are made for Phish shows, making the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami, a must-attend event during Phish tour. Produced by Pete Mason, founder of PhanArt and author of PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish, these PhanArt exhibitions have been held in Atlantic City, Chicago and Las Vegas over the past 14 months and represent a continued effort to promote and exhibit original and unique concert art from a wide variety of artists. The eclectic artists featured at this event show the broad scope of Phish related art and capture the inspiration of the band in their art. Phish’s creative fan base makes amazing art inspired by the band, their music and the locales they play.

In keeping with the great tradition and success of past art shows, the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami, will offer free entry to all patrons and tubes available for purchase. Special edition works only available at the show can be viewed on PhanArt.net and acquired exclusively at the PhanArt show.

The PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition: Miami is sponsored by We’ve Got it Simple, AURA Presents and Band Shirt Archive.

Posters, shirts, stickers and pins

Java John’s Rock & Roll Prints for the Holidays!

December 14, 2014 Pete Mason Leave a comment

‘Java’ John Goldacker, a Space Coast artist has great deals as the holidays are fast approaching. His extensive catalog of prints can be seen on his Facebook page.

Current deals include 30% off all prints at $20 each, plus shipping. These make great gifts for the music or art lover in your life.

To pick one up? PayPal javahnagila@hotmail.com and indicate which print you would like and include your shipping address.