The Painting
The Prints
I have released an edition of 300 signed and numbered serigraphs of the unframed image. Visit AnthemPrints.com to buy a serigraph.
Introduction
In January ’68, while living in the Haight-Ashbury, Phil Lesh asked me if I would do a cover for the Grateful Dead’s second album. I was living in a house on Shrader Street, two blocks above Haight Street, that had canvas window shades. I removed one, stapled it to a 34 inch diameter piece of plywood and drew out the basic image in a week or so. Showed it to the concerned members of the band, they said “OK,” so I began painting. I painted until May when Warner Brothers needed it for the summer release of Anthem of the Sun. Although the background was not done and much of the details were not painted to my satisfaction, we decided it would be fine, since the image would be reduced from 34 inches in diameter to about 11 inches on the album cover. After Warner Brothers had done what they needed to do with the painting, I gave it to a friend (Richard Kane), with the intention of finishing it “whenever,” and began a trip that would not bring me back to the painting until some 20 years later. I finished the background during a three month session in 1989. Then after two more six month painting sessions, Anthem was completed in ’96.
Over the last several decades, I have observed many responses to, and have been asked many questions about the painting. I understand Anthem’s visual language is esoteric and not readily accessible, but I’ve been reluctant to explain or elaborate for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it just wasn’t finished and it’s awful easy to get carried away with descriptions and explanations about something that isn’t complete. Secondly, I believe an intuitive or gut response to a work of art is the most insightful and of the highest level of understanding. However, now that it is finished, and in response to the numerous questions, I feel it timely to offer a guide in hopes it might be useful in providing a more fertile understanding and experience for those interested in the painting and where it came from.
For me, the painting has three interwoven and synchronous levels of import: The outer or direct, the middle or hidden, and the inner or secret meaning. In the following pages, I’ll try to articulate these three ideas and the design and painting process. This guide was written as (and should be read as) a playful and quizzical passage through some of the various landscapes of circumstance, influence and experience from which Anthem grew. Sometimes the memories were fresh and fertile, and I felt as if I was on a pilgrimage to sweet and sacred places of earth, mind and heart. Other times, I felt like an archeologist rummaging through sedimentary layers of mind-rot for some detail of thought, experience or history. The writing takes a winding course, with many switch backs, staggers and crawls. As you pass through the following pages, keep in mind that Anthem of the Sun, means Song of the Sun, and the implied reference is not only to the great solar blaze that brings light and life to a darkened world, but also the illuminating blaze of consciousness that is capable of penetrating to the very heart of darkness.
Read more in the full guide (PDF).
The Guide
“The Guide (PDF)” relates how the painting came about, what it's about and how to navigate the painting. The Guide is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, so you'll need the free Acrobat Reader.