Dead and Company – Sphere

What a ride this one was! I definitely took a beat to consider the magnitude of this gig. It may be the biggest gigposter I’ve been involved with in my 20 years. The Dead have a life force of their own and so many people from all ages and backgrounds reached out to express interest in this one. Attached are several sketches and early ideas for management. The first one features the Sphere as a kind of desert oasis where the Dead blast the barren landscape with a radiating psychedelic wave of turtles and marine life that crashes into the Vegas wasteland. It’s a kind of vision quest or hallucination or something. It’s what I hoped to look up and see while the band performs! Ultimately, management wanted more literal ties to Las Vegas and referenced my last Les Claypool poster as a style they liked. I felt a little like Don Nelson circa 2005 here and wondered if I’d get the axe on the gig. I quickly decided to create my own high stakes game of cards with an anthropomorphic bear, turtle and skeleton. This one was met with a warm reception but I was told to not use any skulls in the final imagery and ended up pivoting to a drawing of a wolf. Maybe the skull had too much menace but I actually prefer the wolf in the final version.

.

NOTES: 18 x 24 inches /// 5 screens /// Show editions are numbered to 1-1035 on vintage cream paper stock and 1-225 on rainbow foil /// AP artist editions numbered 1-100 on vintage cream paper stock and 1-50 on rainbow foil  /// Show was May 31, 2024 at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada /// published by Collectionzz /// Art is dedicated to Cassius Marcellus Coolidge