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    Legendary Artist Alton Kelley Passed Away

    ALTON KELLEY
    1940 - 2008

    Legendary artist Alton Kelley created a graphic style that rocked the world beginning in the psychedelic Sixties. His concert posters, logo designs, LP album covers, and fine art have forevermore defined that time. Kelley, born June 17, 1940, passed away peacefully at home June 1st of complications from a long illness.

    He is survived by the true love of his life, Marguerite Trousdale Kelley. He also leaves his mother Annie, sister Kathy, and beloved children Patty, Yossarian, and China, and beautiful grandchildren Life and Lacoda.

    Through his mind-expanding creativity and over several decades, Kelley gave rock music new colors, shapes, and themes expressing the optimism and enthusiasm of young people around the globe. His graphics defined youth culture as much as the music itself-in effect his art was a break-through collaboration with musicians and bands such as the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. As Joel Selvin, rock critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, put it, “Kelley and Mouse drew the first face on rock music.”

    Kelley and his life-long collaborator Stanley Mouse are best known for their posters for “San Francisco style” dance-concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium, Winterland Arena, the Fillmore West, the Avalon Ballroom, and a host of other Bay Area theaters and amphitheaters. They also created world-renowned posters and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and others.

    The two artists historically worked as a team, in their words “riffing off each other's giggle.” They joyfully appropriated from historic sources, in one instance re-working an obscure nineteenth-century etching to create their iconic Grateful Dead “skeleton and roses” design. They combined vibrant Sixties color with French poster-making joi de vivre enthusiasm, and their own adapted technique, to generate compelling pieces often issued on a weekly basis, ultimately dazzling millions worldwide. Thus, they changed advertising art forever, as their posters were key examples of what became one of the most important art movements of the latter part of the twentieth century.

    When Kelley (a native of Maine) met Mouse (a native of Detroit, MI) in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in late 1965 (the “Haight” was the epicenter of the hippie movement, culminating in the “Summer of Love” in 1967), they instantly recognized they were kindred spirits in what Mouse describes as “one of the juciest scenes of all time.” Their concert posters, commissioned by Fillmore promoter Bill Graham and the Avalon's Family Dog collective, were eagerly snapped up by bands and fans alike.

    In the decades since, Mouse and Kelley's classics have established even greater popularity, rivaling the interest long shown by collectors of French turn-of-the-century Belle Epoque art made famous by Toulouse-Lautrec and others.

    In his later years, Kelley joyfully turned to illustrating hot rods and custom cars, fine art paintings, and designs for t-shirts and other merchandise.

    In lieu of flowers, donations can be made at the Washington Mutual Western Street branch in Petaluma, CA for a memorial bench in a Sonoma County Park. A memorial event will be announced shortly.

    For members of the press: photographs, selected artwork, and video bites are available by contacting Jennifer Gross at 323-658-8700.

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  • Mark Lomas
    9 years ago
    Miss you, and thank you Alton...
    From the mid 70's up till Kelly's passing in 2008 we had some amazing times together. The Food Company in Sausalito. Creating the Artista Gang. Endless partying. Mike Pickel and Lowriders. Kelley's chopped Merc. Stanley and I watching the sun rise too many times. Chasing women, and being chased. The stories behind many of the paintings. American Beauty American Reality. Told not to tell the story behind the artwork for the ice cream in the forehead World Tour double album. Watched so many famous pieces created. Backstage Winterland for all three shows (77) and going back to Mickey Hart's studio after the show while he and Jerry were working on Terrapin Station. Many other wonderful backstage memories. Thank you Alton! The best laugh, more of a rolling chuckle. And a brilliant contrarian - mostly just for fun - the curse of being a Gemini - we both are/were...take care Alton, you did good!Mark
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    jerjer1000
    15 years 9 months ago
    My friends did come around...
    Thank you for the years.
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    Ken Hunt
    15 years 9 months ago
    Just observations from
    Just observations from Blighty: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4082654.ece
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ALTON KELLEY
1940 - 2008

Legendary artist Alton Kelley created a graphic style that rocked the world beginning in the psychedelic Sixties. His concert posters, logo designs, LP album covers, and fine art have forevermore defined that time. Kelley, born June 17, 1940, passed away peacefully at home June 1st of complications from a long illness.

He is survived by the true love of his life, Marguerite Trousdale Kelley. He also leaves his mother Annie, sister Kathy, and beloved children Patty, Yossarian, and China, and beautiful grandchildren Life and Lacoda.

Through his mind-expanding creativity and over several decades, Kelley gave rock music new colors, shapes, and themes expressing the optimism and enthusiasm of young people around the globe. His graphics defined youth culture as much as the music itself-in effect his art was a break-through collaboration with musicians and bands such as the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. As Joel Selvin, rock critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, put it, “Kelley and Mouse drew the first face on rock music.”

Kelley and his life-long collaborator Stanley Mouse are best known for their posters for “San Francisco style” dance-concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium, Winterland Arena, the Fillmore West, the Avalon Ballroom, and a host of other Bay Area theaters and amphitheaters. They also created world-renowned posters and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and others.

The two artists historically worked as a team, in their words “riffing off each other's giggle.” They joyfully appropriated from historic sources, in one instance re-working an obscure nineteenth-century etching to create their iconic Grateful Dead “skeleton and roses” design. They combined vibrant Sixties color with French poster-making joi de vivre enthusiasm, and their own adapted technique, to generate compelling pieces often issued on a weekly basis, ultimately dazzling millions worldwide. Thus, they changed advertising art forever, as their posters were key examples of what became one of the most important art movements of the latter part of the twentieth century.

When Kelley (a native of Maine) met Mouse (a native of Detroit, MI) in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in late 1965 (the “Haight” was the epicenter of the hippie movement, culminating in the “Summer of Love” in 1967), they instantly recognized they were kindred spirits in what Mouse describes as “one of the juciest scenes of all time.” Their concert posters, commissioned by Fillmore promoter Bill Graham and the Avalon's Family Dog collective, were eagerly snapped up by bands and fans alike.

In the decades since, Mouse and Kelley's classics have established even greater popularity, rivaling the interest long shown by collectors of French turn-of-the-century Belle Epoque art made famous by Toulouse-Lautrec and others.

In his later years, Kelley joyfully turned to illustrating hot rods and custom cars, fine art paintings, and designs for t-shirts and other merchandise.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made at the Washington Mutual Western Street branch in Petaluma, CA for a memorial bench in a Sonoma County Park. A memorial event will be announced shortly.

For members of the press: photographs, selected artwork, and video bites are available by contacting Jennifer Gross at 323-658-8700.

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thinking of all your artwork i've enjoyed though the years,thx Kelly...i'll be watching the sky for more may the four wind blow you safely home.....
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For all those awesome images that have become the archetypical representations of our scene. You blew my mind and gave me smiles and laughs. Peace. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake
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The iconic Skull and Roses appeared in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, rendered in the English verse by Edmund Fitzgerald with drawings by Edmund J. Sullivan. One edition was published by Hartsdale House, New York, copyright 1932. An almost identical copy was published by Illustrated Editions Company, 120 Fourth Avenue, (New York). Our Skull and Roses, brought to us by Edmund and Alton is opposite verse XXVI, which I quote from: Oh, come with old Khayyam, and the leave the Wise To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. We've lost so many and so much, as a community and as individuals, a Dead Concert is always a bittersweet time. I had tears in my eyes when Phil played Box of Rain, and Bobby played Brokedown Palace at Mizner Park.
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Man, Bo Diddley and Alton Kelley on the same day. Music and the world at large has truly lost two pioneers. Here's a nice Bo Diddley poster, created by Alton Kelley: BoKelley
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Your work still inspires me in my own creations. You and Mouse and Rick Griffin were (are) a class all to your own. True originals. Thanks for the wonderful thought provoking and inspiring creations that only say "Kelley" in their originality. You kept a low profile, but were highly visible. Kelley, there is only one. ~Tom ( The AllTomMitt Drawing Machine) yeah, i know, cheesy.....but it works!
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So sad to hear this. He was a magnificent artist. Creating a style all his own and pushing the boundries of graphic art at the time. Leaving behind a legacy that is sure to only grow over time. We will miss you. pk
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Rarely have art and music combined so well as did SF rock and the seminal Kelley/Mouse images. The posters deepened my understanding of the music and vice versa. Best of all, there was always a palpable joy to Kelley's artwork that still makes me smile. The world is indeed diminished by his loss. Noyatin
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...and made my eyes dance. Thank you, AK, for the art and the smiles. Your drawings will live on. Peace to your family and close friends.
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Your art work is entwined in my mind with the music of an entire era, especially The Grateful Dead. For those of us left behind, this is a sad day, but I have a vision of you in a place that finally surpasses the incredible inspiration of your psychedelic visions (not that you didn't also experience that bliss, in this world, as well). Also, that was a great post, cactuswax... awesome poster for Bo Diddley! How ironic and sad a day, indeed. "You know what the trouble about real life is? There's no danger music."
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I'm shattered with the sad news of Kelley and Bo. Now they are free. I am keeping it together by keeping in mind all the joy that was made and left for all of us and those to follow. That poster is amazing cactuswax. I will celebrate their lives with some hot jams and some art appreciation visuals for many years to come..."the good lord willin'" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Look out of any window Any morning, any evening, any day" Robert Hunter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Amazing how when we look around on our walls we are comforted by the images of our youth. To know we have lost another is tempered that these collaborative images celebrate the high times, friends for life, and the golden road. Alton made his mark at our Red Dog salon in Virginia City where the pyschedelic ballroom scene had its first test flights and returned 30 years later to celebrate with us. A great Bro and interesting man.
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Eric Abrahamson, Yale University, Pierson '71P.O. Box 1112 Berkeley, CA 94701 510-809-1369 x6149 ericabrahamson@aya.yale.edu eabrahamson2@horizon.csueastbay.edu ericabrahamso@hotmail.com http://www.EricAbrahamsonsBlog.BlogSpot.Com http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/resumes/ericabrahamso/resume/lv I met him once at an art show at the Postermat in North Beach with Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, and Vic Moscoso. I really felt (and feel) that he is one of the greatest artists of all time, and I hope he goes down that way in the books, like Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, da Vinci, Picasso, et al. I wish I could have afforded more of that great art.
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Your work inspired us and will continue to inspire and move us to places that we could have never imagined with out you. Thank you for giving us so much.

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A very sad week, Alton Kelley and Bo Diddley pass away within a couple of days of each other. Both were giants in their field, both men influenced millions of people all over the world with the sheer brilliance of their work. I see some of Alton's legacy in just about every room in my house, he lives on through his magnificent artwork. I talked to him at a few poster shows over the years, nothing big just small talk about how I admired his art... I certainly wish their family and friends heartfelt sympathy in this time of sadness. Here's a link that has a lot of comments from other artists: http://www.gigposters.com/forums/anything-goes/64649-rip-alton-kelley.h…
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I recently met a witness to the meeting of Mouse and Kelley, George Conger.The way he desribes the event is that Mouse drove up, Kelley was with George, and George, being a fellow Detroit person introduced the two. History may remember it differently, but that the story I have, and I'm sticking to it. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ; }
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Let my inspiration flow in token rhyme, suggesting rhythm,That will not forsake you, till my tale is told and done.
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Hey Al, my best to you in the next world. You were always a gentleman and an artist in this one, sharing your experience and expertise with us younger cats- When I think of you I see the beautiful original wood and veined mirror American Reality hanging over the sofa...the Peanut Gallery stairwell bathtub full of old marblelized paint... the Tiger Rose, the Steve Miller Pegasus, masterpieces one and all, and your kindness and generosity most of all.All the Best!
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Bo Diddley too? I didn't know that. How sad-is one I am grateful have seen live several times.********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens
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I have been inspired by his great artwork since before I was a teenager, back in the day.Thank you. I embroidered the skull and roses on my denim jacket back in 1972 and I still have it , though the jacket wore out, I put it on another jacket and wear it today !Carla
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Kelley/Mouse artwork has left major imprint in our lifes and hearts. You can see their art everywhere with us Deadheads and older rock fans in general. Thank you Kelley for a lifetime of creative giving and sharing. We will miss you.
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From the mid 70's up till Kelly's passing in 2008 we had some amazing times together. The Food Company in Sausalito. Creating the Artista Gang. Endless partying. Mike Pickel and Lowriders. Kelley's chopped Merc. Stanley and I watching the sun rise too many times. Chasing women, and being chased. The stories behind many of the paintings. American Beauty American Reality. Told not to tell the story behind the artwork for the ice cream in the forehead World Tour double album. Watched so many famous pieces created. Backstage Winterland for all three shows (77) and going back to Mickey Hart's studio after the show while he and Jerry were working on Terrapin Station. Many other wonderful backstage memories. Thank you Alton! The best laugh, more of a rolling chuckle. And a brilliant contrarian - mostly just for fun - the curse of being a Gemini - we both are/were...take care Alton, you did good!Mark