The Relaunch(es) make way for Mind Spring

With the Relaunch Part II (all sculpture show) ending tomorrow, Varnish Fine Art is pleased to present the upcoming show: 

Mind Spring: New paintings, installations, and limited silkscreen editions by Chuck Sperry, Chris Shaw, and Ron Donovan.  Lending rock and alternative music a form of visual expression in sync with their urban environments, Chuck Sperry, Chris Shaw, and Ron Donovan embrace, alter, re-assign meaning and re-contextualize images until they become the medium-the subject emerging, used purposely--irreverently or reverently--to transform ephemeral events and experiences into a lexicon of shared cultural visual memory.

Please join us for the Mind Spring opening reception on Saturday, January 14th, 4pm to 7pm.  On exhibit through February 18.

In the title piece Mind Spring (shown above), Chuck Sperry creates an icon of the Worldwide Occupy Movement and it's antecedent in the Arab Spring. The figure wreathed in blooming spring flowers is a representation of the surprising enlightened humanism, the opening mind, the broadened socio-political possibilities which has swept the world in 2011.

Chuck Sperry has honed the craft of designing and hand screen printing for over 15 years to become recognized throughout the world as one of the foremost rock poster artists. Elevating the craft to fine art, Sperry creates socio-political artwork beyond rock. He adheres to the ideal that beauty strengthens his message. Sperry works in San Francisco, but exhibits internationally from Bristol to Belgrade. He has been featured in documentaries for film and television in the US, Europe and Australia.

Chris Shaw's work (shown above) is collected by both rock poster fans as well as art collectors. Shaw’s posters and paintings have been featured in several books, notably, The Art Of Modern Rock. Shaw’s artwork has also been published in a myriad of newspapers and magazines both domestically and abroad. German Rolling Stone magazine named Chris Shaw “Artist of the Year” in 2001. Shaw’s posters were featured in the 2009 documentary film “American Artifact”. In 2011, Shaw, Sperry and Donovan collaborated on a 6 month installation exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


For the last 2 decades Ron Donovan has created hundreds of cutting-edge rock posters (pictured at left), all the while spilling spurious political propaganda. Prolific rock art poster artist Ron Donovan opened The Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company together with Chuck Sperry in the late '90's. Donovan became well known for his rene­gade, abun­dant cre­ative energy and can­did expres­sion. His Pacific Island back­ground and influ­ence invig­o­rated his focus on Amer­i­can polit­i­cal satire and rela­tions, and multi-cultural stud­ies. It was also in col­lege where he met Chris Shaw, fel­low col­lab­o­ra­tor.


Give us a shout at the gallery or visit our website for more information about this exhibit.