Tag Archives: best of phanart

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!

Apparel, artist profiles, media, phanbusiness, Posters, shirts, stickers and pins, top 10

Best of PhanArt 2013, Part 3

January 16, 2014 Pete Mason Leave a comment

Well, here we are. The Top 6 in the Best of PhanArt 2013. The art has simply continued to get better and better each year, just like the band. The mutual inspiration is pretty awesome to experience. A big thanks to Kelly, Chris, James, Chris and Taylor for their help in running PhanArt with me this past year, as well as their help at the art shows, without them I simply couldn’t keep up with the site. As far as art shows, you can expect at least one this year; more details to come once we get tour dates!

The Best of PhanArt list was compiled based on feedback received through the site, on tour, and through Facebook and Twitter. Fans were asked in the past month what was some of the best Phish related (non-official) art of 2013 and they responded. I took all suggestions into account and looked at the list and came up with the top 13, as well as the honorable mentions. Today we complete the Best of PhanArt 2013 and wrap things up with the top 6 pieces of original fan-made art from 2013. Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 from yesterday.

Remember, the Phanart made in 2013 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.

#6 Duke of Lizards by AJ Masthay

It’s tough to pick just one of AJ’s posters from 2013, but fans were pretty unanimous in selecting his SPAC triptych for the Best of PhanArt. Focusing on the Victorian aspect of the springs and baths in Saratoga, AJ brought the Lizards for a stroll through the mansions and halls of the historic town. AJ’s work has been a staple for Phish fans to gaze upon for years now, with many asking when he will do an official print. It’s a fair question, but AJ has been doing some incredible posters for Umphrey’s McGee, Widespread Panic, Yonder Mountain String Band and multiple festivals around the country. As AJ’s intricate linoleum block printing method grows in popularity, I think we aren’t too far off from an official Phish print.

13SPACtriptych_72dpi — Click to check out the detail!

#5 Commerce City by Ryan Kerrigan

Ryan’s daily mandala’s are a treat, but this sun-mandala setting behind the Rocky Mountains and shining down on the crowd at Dick’s is a visual spectacle. Very much creating a three-dimensional image, the sunlight over the imposing mountains mimics Kuroda’s lights on the crowd at Dick’s, with fist-pump guy making a return appearance (he was in the bathroom during The Gorge). Full of detail and color, Kerrigan makes the Best of PhanArt once again, with fans calling this one out for the list months in advance.

#4 Fall Tour Puckheads from Branden Otto and Chatterbox

Designed with Chatterbox, Branden came up with possibly the most unique piece of art this year. Take the owl – clutching Fishman’s vacuum, with each feather on the wings representing one of Phish’s years from 1983-2013. Then, factor in the venues from Fall Tour – every one was, or currently is, home to an AHL or NHL team, making a hockey puck a perfect representation of the venues, as well as the band playing them. At $20, these pucks sold out quickly. Fast forward to MSG and official pucks were selling for $30 a piece, and not nearly as creative as Otto and Chatterbox’s. Pucking great work guys!

#3 “Fly Famous Mockingbird” / “Joy” by Isadora Bullock

What a year Isadora has had! These two prints were overwhelmingly the most popular that fans recommended for the Best of, so much that it was tough to pick one over the other, so both make the list. Isadora’s fine detail in her linoleum block printing, bursting colors and mesmerizing design are showing an artist not on the rise, but hitting a strong peak in her craft. Atlantic City’s poster has the Famous Mockingbird flying towards the Jersey shore, with the venue the center of the resonating waves of sound, while Hampton returns us to a church-like setting, because that’s exactly the feeling one would gain from visiting The Mothership; the stained-glass practically pops off the paper. With an art show in Asheville that runs through February (if you live anywhere close, make the trip and check out her growing gallery of great posters), things couldn’t be looking brighter for Isadora.

#2 Page Side Rage Side Underwear

You have to recognize a great idea when you see one. Page Side on the front (with a dead fish) and Rage side on the back – do these need to explanation? Hot sellers that blew up the site – PhanArt had more hits in the first two days these were on sale than any other item in such a span of time – these boy shorts went fast, as every guy on Phish tour picked them up for his girl, because why not? And Orange and Blue colors? Wise color choices indeed.

And the #1 piece of PhanArt, the Best of 2013 is…….

#1 Heisenberg / It’s Ice shirts/stickers/pins

Yeah bitch! As if this was a surprise. Clearly the hottest piece of art this year was going to have some pop culture tie-in, as everyone and their brother was fawning over the final season of Breaking Bad. Combine “It’s Ice” and that ‘other’ Ice, throw in some Fishman donuts and the result was a nonstop barrage of “How soon can you print more shirts?”, as one printing sold out after another. The folks at Dogmatagram Designs had a hit and once the sticker became a sought after quick seller, shirts soon followed, and inevitably, a pin. Phish fans love a good pop culture connection to the band and this was one of the best in recent memory. As long as Breaking Bad is a legendary TV show, the Heisenberg/It’s Ice design will live on. Say you want this!

Apparel, artist profiles, media, phanbusiness, Posters, shirts, stickers and pins, top 10

Best of PhanArt 2013, Part 2

January 15, 2014 Pete Mason 1 Comment

What a year 2013 was! Not only was it one of the best Phish years on record, but there was some incredible Phish inspired art that set the bar high for future years. This is not just a coincidence – when the band is at the top of their game, it rubs off on the fans and art community. Summer Shakedowns were good (despite the rain) and Dicks and Fall Tour led to some of the most memorable Shakedowns in 3.0, with the highlight of them all being the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition in Atlantic City on November 2nd.

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 what was some of the best Phish related (non-official) art of 2013 and they responded. I took all suggestions into account and looked at the list and came up with the top 13, as well as the honorable mentions.Today we continue the Best of PhanArt 2013 with a look at the art coming in at numbers 7-13. Be sure to check out Part 1 from yesterday.

Remember, the Phanart made in 2013 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.

#13 Erin Cadigan’s Halloween poster “Le P(h)oisson Deguisement d’ Hallowe’en Metropole de Atlantique“

Erin’s Halloween print, her third to feature a mermaid, was inspired by vintage French horror film posters. Note the record with the label (translated) “Phish’s musical costume, Atlantic City.” Who knew their costume would be their own music? Another fabulous poster from Erin.

halloween_13

#12 Julius/Dr J shirts by Brian Zuckerberg, Chris Ehrens, Shawn Dos Santos and Noah Phence

Hugely popular on tour all year, Dr. J is finally connected to “Julius” with proper art and an in your face palmed basketball. Expect to see folks wearing this shirt on tour for years to come.

#11 Jiggs Hampton Poster

Jiggs has been one of the foremost artists to make a name for himself in 3.0, and his posters over the past few years are a strong part of that. His Hampton poster included an intricate representation of the dates and location for the Fall Tour opener. Another sold out poster from Jiggs – job well done!

#10 Andrew Bryant ‘Band in Lights’ pin

When I talked to pinners about some of the best of the year, this was one that kept coming up, with resounding support for the design. Mini-silhouettes of the band under Kuroda’s lights, in a limited edition of 100, with a perfect quote from “Scents and Subtle Sounds” to cap it off – brilliant. He’s now up to a fourth version of the pin, with pin collectors clamoring for all editions.

#9 Tripp’s Commerce City Triptych

We all love Tripp’s Prints! Tripp has posters for nearly every show, and with his Commerce City Triptych, he gave fans a trio to drool over. Rising fish in the morning, shining at noon and setting in the evening are represented in his prints, with the scenic mountains drawn colorfully and three-dimensionally – perfect for a three-poster set for a perfect three night run at Dick’s.

#8 Michael Boyer’s Jerseys

At the Summer in Saratoga Art show on July 6th, fans were amazed at the setup of a different poster for each show of the tour, plus, something new – jerseys with characters from Phish songs as the ‘team’ logo. All summer long, Llamas and Mockingbirds were sold on lot, a hugely popular and incredibly unique piece of art. Boyer put great thought into these, and the quality of the product cannot be understated. Look for more jerseys from Boyer this summer, as well as as profile on the artist coming next week on PhanArt.

#7 Brian Hill’s Atlantic City Poster

This poster surfaced a few days after Brian’s Hampton poster was seen online, and the lights for Boardwalk Hall were an even greater muse for Hill. Brian was on hand to sell his posters at the PhanArt Poster and Pin Exhibition in Atlantic City, with a huge response from fans who took to his representation of Boardwalk Hall, improving on the venue’s already impressive facade and late night light show.

That’s all for Part 2. What made the top 6? Check back tomorrow and find out!

Apparel, media, phanbusiness, Posters, shirts, stickers and pins, top 10

Best of PhanArt 2013, Part 1

January 14, 2014 Pete Mason

2013 was also a HUGE year in money raised for The Mockingbird Foundation. For the first time since PhanArt.net started in 2009, PhanArt and Friends have raised over $5,000! $5,106.30 to be exact. I set a goal in 2010 of raising $5,000 a year – the maximum grant that The Mockingbird Foundation gives, and each year we crept towards the goal, this year being the first year we reached that goal! Overall, we have raised over $14,000 and that is mainly from small donations from artists, based on sales of their art. Music fans supporting artists supporting charity supporting music education – this is a fantastic cycle that I’m glad so many have become a part of.

Definitely NOT on the Best of List, but hey, Boba Fett!

There was a great deal of 30th anniversary art, a plethora of pins, and seemingly everything has the Fishman Donuts on them now. Seriously, they are making carpeting. Wallpaper isnt too far away. A full body tattoo couldn’t be more than five years off. Posters, shirts, stickers, clothing – fans got creative and made great art, leading to fans buying that art and keeping the community thriving and on tour.

Following the pattern I have used for past ‘Best of PhanArt’, I have 13 for 2013 in my best of this year, including honorable mentions, which I am highlighting today. There has simply been too much great art this year and I would be neglecting some great art if I didnt give artists their proper due.

Remember, the Phanart made in 2013 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.

Before we get to the art, a reminder on the mission of PhanArt:

PhanArt’s mission is to compile and preserve art created by Phish fans for the Phish community and, in the course of such work, to also benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, which raises funds for music education for children.

I am always here to support the artists and broaden their audience. Art is neglected in society. I see it neglected in schools – art and music are the first to be cut when something has to go. So with that in mind, consider this:

Honorable Mentions

Ben Whitesell Steampunk – Ben follows up his #1 print of 2012 with this gorgeous print focused on Mike’s bass. Ben has done official prints for Widespread Panic and Keller Williams in the past year, a sign of great things to come from.

Pheanuts shirts/stickers – Ok, disclaimer – this was sold by PhanArt all summer and fall, but the response to this art by Andrew Cariboni puts it on the list. Seriously, the response was overwhelming at times. Thanks to all who picked up a shirt or sticker. The gang’s all there. Look for this shirt to make a return to the PhanArt Store sometime this spring.

Virginia is for Lizards shirts – Maybe So Maybe Lot sold out of this shirt during the Hampton run this past fall, and donated $1 for every shirt sold to The Mockingbird Foundation. After printing some more, he ended up donating $196 from the sale of his shirts. Its not the donations that get him on the list, its the simplicity of the design and use of the iconic Virginia state motto, ‘Virginia is for lovers’. But it’s for the Lizards too.

Fishman scarves – Well, putting the Donuts on everything eventually would lead to some practical, formal applications of the universal design. Last year, it was ties by stuPINdous Creations. This year, it’s scarves from the great mind of Adrian Sharpe at stuPINdous. Warm, super long and quite stylish, these were a huge hit and sold out quickly for good reason.

Mark Serlo’s SPAC poster – I loved this one from the moment I saw it at the Mothership Art Collective’s Summer in Saratoga show during the SPAC run. Simple, small and working the dates and venue into the racing antelope – Mark covered all the bases in one great poster.

Ewok Fishman shirt – I ran into Eli wearing one of these outside the Sea Dog Brewery in Bangor the afternoon of the tour opener, and my jaw dropped. This one was a hit from the get-go – combine Star Wars geekery and a now iconic Phish design, and you have a fantastic shirt. Nub Nub.

Phish Shades – These were seen all over the summer, because Alexandra was selling them at literally every show this tour, even the Toronto rain-date! With a dozen or so different designs and plenty of fans needing sunglasses, these were practical and unique, and a great find on lot.

Hampton Death Star by Terra-Pins – This one sold out on pre-sale, to give you some idea of how popular it was among the pin community. A great pin from Chuck Hoffman and Terra-pins, it gives the term ‘The Mothership’ a whole new perspective, and ties sci-fi geekery to Phish with ease.

That’s all for Part 1. Stay tuned this week for Parts 2 and 3!