Gary Grimshaw Detroit Grande
Ballroom Concert Poster Artist
Gary Grimshaw is a graphic artist
specializing in the music business since his first concert poster design in
1966. He was the primary poster and light show artist for Detroit's Grande
Ballroom through 1969. During this time he also created art for Detroit's
notorious rock & roll band the MC5. Currently an album cover design for the
MC5's first album "Kick Out The Jams" painted in 1968 is on view at
Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum. Gary established a
connection with the San Francisco Bay Area with frequent trips out west
1966-70, where he worked for the beautiful San Francisco Oracle and the radical
Berkeley Tribe.
A Vietnam veteran, Gary Grimshaw was consistently active in the anti-war movement after his discharge. The 10
year sentence imposed by the State of Michigan on his friend poet John Sinclair
on a conviction of possession of two joints demanded Gary's return to The Great
Lakes State and his assuming the duties of Minister of Art and Central
Committee member of the White Panther Party. Subsequently, the John Sinclair
Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor in December 1971 with performers
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, speaker Bobby Seale and
many others resulted in the reduction by the Michigan State Legislature of the
penalty for possession of marijuana from a felony to a misdemeanor and John was
freed.
With John back on the street,
Gary became the art director for the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festivals in
1972 and 1973. In 1974 Gary returned to his hometown Detroit and concentrated
on its thriving rock & roll scene. For the next 14 years he produced
posters, recording packages, logos and graphics for all of the major promoters
and dozens of bands and clubs in the Motor City. He was also associate art
director for Creem Magazine from 1976 to 1984. In 1984 he co-founded MSA
(Music/Media Services Associates) with John Sinclair and Frank Bach, an agency
that had among its clients The City of Detroit (Hart Plaza and Chene Park
events), The Music Hall Theatre, and several clubs and bands. MSA also managed
The Urbations and produced special events such as the Detroit For Africa
concert in 1985.
The publication in 1986 of The
Art Of Rock: Posters From Presley To Punk by Paul Grushkin (Abbeville Press)
was a turning point in Gary's career. This massive tome has become the
"bible" of rock & roll poster collectors. In it Gary is
recognized as one of the originators of the form. Iggy Pop, having seen The Art
Of Rock, hired Gary to design the cover art for his 1987 A&M record
Instinct. In 1988 Gary became art director of ArtRock and moved to San
Francisco with his wife Laura. In 1991 he resigned from ArtRock and returned to
freelancing. Gary did 5 posters for Bill Graham Presents, posters for local Bay
Area shows and began reprinting his early posters.
Exhibitions of Gary's work
include 3 one-man shows in Detroit (1984 at Alvin's, 1987 at the Michigan
Gallery and 1996 at the Cass Cafe). Group exhibitions include the DIA in 1974
and 1980, the Motor City Joint Show in Ferndale with Stanley Mouse, Mark
Arminski and Wes Wilson in 1993, the San Francisco Rock Poster Expos at Golden
Gate Park in 1992 and 1993, the Temporary Insanity Shows on Haight Street in
1995 and 1996, the Visual Jams Show during the opening of the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame & Museum at Cleveland in 1995, and the San Francisco Rock
& Roll Poster Revival Show in 1999.
Currently Gary and Laura have
opened an art shop in downtown Oakland, CA named PaperSong at Swan's Market
featuring his works and those of Dennis Loren, Marco Almera, Jim Phillips, Lee
Conklin, Mark London, Frank Kozik, Shag and others. PaperSong's grand opening
in November 2000 featured a free concert in the courtyard by Big Brother and
the Holding Co. and the Bay Area Blues Society's Caravan of All Stars.
PaperSong is an ongoing sponsor of the Home Grown Blues free concert series in
downtown Oakland.