Alton Kelley (June 17, 1940 – June 1, 2008) was an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

known for his

psychedelic art Psychedelic art (also known as psychedelia) is art, graphics or visual displays related to or inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT. The word ...

, in particular his designs for 1960s rock concert posters and album covers. Along with artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso and

Wes Wilson Robert Wesley Wilson (July 15, 1937 – January 24, 2020) was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters. Best known for designing posters for Bill Graham of The Fillmore in San Francisco, he invented a style t ...

, Kelley founded the Berkeley Bonaparte distribution agency in order to produce and sell psychedelic poster art. Along with fellow artist Stanley Mouse, Kelley is credited with creating the wings and beetles on all Journey album covers as well as the skull and roses image for the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

. Kelley's artwork on the 1971 self-titled live album, ''

'', incorporated a black and white illustration of a skeleton by Edmund Sullivan, which originally appeared in a 19th-century edition of the ''

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia". Altho ...

''. In 1995, Kelley designed and printed a limited edition poster of

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

to raise money for the Jan Kerouac Benefit Fund. Kelley is also credited for the cover art for the

King's X King's X is an American rock band that originated in 1979 in Springfield, Missouri. They were first called The Edge and later became Sneak Preview before settling on its current name in 1985. The band's current lineup has remained intact for ...

album '' Ear Candy'' in 1996. He was brought up in Connecticut and worked as a welder there. In 1966-1967, Kelley had his studio at 715 Ashbury (across the street from 'the Grateful Dead house') along with Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin, and Victor Moscoso. He died on June 1, 2008, at the age of 67, after a long illness.

References

External links

documentary film featuring the work of Alton Kelley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Alton 1940 births 2008 deaths Psychedelic artists Artists from Maine American poster artists Album-cover and concert-poster artists People from Houlton, Maine

See also

References

External links