This video appeared on Twitter last week and showed what the ‘Art Jam’ from The Great Went in 1997 looked like from the audience point of view. Having not gone to the Went nor seeing an image of the front of this piece until now gave me pause, because it shows the art that Phish collectively created before sending it off through the crowd to be attached to the giant art sculpture that was later ceremoniously set on fire. This is the Origin of the PhanArt Logo.

Skip ahead to the fall of 2004. When the idea for PhanArt materialized and a logo was needed, the Art Jam became the idea upon which the PhanArt logo was created. I felt that it was the combination of the concept of the PhanArt book – Art made by the fans inspired by the band coming together. But there was only one picture the logo designer, Mark Sakasai and I could find at the time:

So Mark did what he could with this and created a couple of early logos, with a focus on sticking to something simple:

Finally, we decided upon one final logo, which has been used continuously since late 2004:

A simple explanation of the logo – PhanArt has the second A replaced with the closest interpretation of Phish’s part of the Went Art tower, with colors interpreted by Mark. I always felt it looked like Kentucky, and Phish’s final piece of the Art tower did seem to resemble it, in a way. Artistic interpretation at its finest

So thanks to Mark and Phish for their creations. They have been an indelible part of PhanArt and the past 8 years of this continuing project that showcases the art of the fans that is inspired by Phish.