Greg Irons and related artists

Raised in Philadelphia, Greg Irons was a self-taught artist and East Coast acid-tripper whose early influences were illustrators N.C. Wyeth and Heinrich Kley. Irons moved to San Francisco in 1967 and roamed around Haight-Ashbury with his sketchbook, ...more

Raised in Philadelphia, Greg Irons was a self-taught artist and East Coast acid-tripper whose early influences were illustrators N.C. Wyeth and Heinrich Kley. Irons moved to San Francisco in 1967 and roamed around Haight-Ashbury with his sketchbook, creating images he would later use in his posters. Bumping into a music producer friend led to his first poster commission; with poster in hand, he went to see Bill Graham. As usual, Graham needed a poster in a hurry, and Irons succeeded in producing one overnight. When it came to adding color to his black and white sketch, however, he kept it monochromatic; Bonnie MacLean later guided him in applying color to his work. As his talent as a draftsman developed, a distinctive line quality and refined sense of balance set Irons' posters apart. His cartoonist inclinations are often evident, and he became one of the seminal figures in underground comics. Irons also found work producing album graphics and book illustration, but it was the art of tattooing that became his passion. In 1984, Irons traveled to Thailand to get a tattoo from a Buddhist monk; such a tattoo from a holy man is considered a spiritual talisman. Newly adorned with a snake tattoo, Irons emerged from the shop and was struck and killed by a bus as he crossed a street....less