Philip Cushway’s Art of the Dead traces the influences of the youth culture/psychedelic art movement and its manifestation in posters advertising the Grateful Dead. He chronicles the evolution of the art, from the Dead’s beginnings in 1965 through Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. With bios, interviews, and quotes from artists including Rick Griffin, Stanley “Mouse” Miller, Alton Kelley, Wes Wilson, and Victor Moscoso, it is a document of its time in our time. The book also includes essays by author Greil Marcus, Dead drummer Mickey Hart, actor Peter Coyote, and me. Cushway also shows a number of sketches, original art, blue-lines, film, printing plates, et cetera, which illustrate each step in the process of creating the art. Get it here or here, and there’s also a Facebook page.
