Thursday, January 9, 2014

Legendary Poster Artist Gary Grimshaw Honored at The Scarab Club

Legendary Psychedelic poster artist Gary Grimshaw is being honored Thursday night at a reception and exhibit showcasing his work, concluding in the ceremonial Scarab Club beam signing. You may not be thinking that signing a beam at some artists’ workshop is no big deal; however, you would be completely wrong. The ceremonial beam signing at the Scarab Club in Detroit is a distinguished honor. Much like a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one has to be chosen to receive this honor. A load of well known Detroit-native artists and poets have been able to sign the beam at the Scarab Club, with Diego Rivera, Tyree Guyton, Norman Rockwell and Elmore Leonard among them. Normally, this is the cause for celebration, but Grimshaw is celebrating for another reason, also.


Throughout his journey as an artist, Grimshaw has become an icon of rock and psychedelic art through the legendary posters and handbills he created for Detroit’s Grande Ballroom. Of course the Grande closed down in the early 70’s, but its memory remains, shown throughout Grimshaw’s now iconic work. Original Grimshaw posters are now worth thousands, but prints of them have been made for sale (www.garygrimshaw.com), with one of them having an appearance in Tim Burton’s 2012 Dark Shadows reboot film.  Due to a recent illness that Grimshaw has been battling, he is ready to turn the page onto his final journey as an artist. Grimshaw has always been known as soft spoken (yet revolutionary in his ideas), so this honor means even more to his family, his friends and himself.

The ‘Gary Grimshaw: Solo’ exhibition is showcased at The Scarab Club from January 2nd through February 15th. The reception takes place tomorrow, Friday, January 10th from 6-9pm with the ceremonial beam signing at 7:30.









EDIT- We lost our friend Gary Grimshaw at 11:05 today, January 13th 2014. His memory will live on with his work and through the inspiration he has given to new generations of artists. R.I.P. Peace And Power.