Inside the “60 Years of the Grateful Dead” Art Exhibition
An ambitious art exhibition celebrating the 60-year legacy of Grateful Dead opens this December in California, giving fans a rare chance to see the original art that helped define one of rock’s most iconic bands.
What’s On Display
The retrospective, titled 60 Years of the Grateful Dead, curated by art-collector and psychedelic-art enthusiast Brian Chambers, will open at the Chambers Project on December 6, 2025.
The show brings together original artworks, posters, album covers, and illustrations, created over the decades by the artists who built the Grateful Dead’s distinctive visual identity. Among the featured creators are legendary names like Rick Griffin, Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, Bill Walker, and Owsley Stanley.
Notable works on display include:
Walker’s original painting for the album Anthem of the Sun.
Griffin’s pen-and-ink drawing first used for the cover of Aoxomoxoa.
A rare 1900 illustration titled Skeleton Amidst Roses by Victorian artist Edmund J. Sullivan, the image that later inspired the iconic 1971 Skull and Roses album cover.
Also on view are hand-colored posters from the band’s earliest “Acid Test” shows, some created by Owsley Stanley, including the first poster to publicly use the name “Grateful Dead.”
Why the Exhibition Matters
The art exhibition doesn’t just celebrate album covers or posters, it chronicles the visual and cultural journey of a band woven deeply into 1960s counterculture, psychedelia, and American rock history.
According to curator Brian Chambers, the exhibition is meant to show how the “visual vocabulary” of Grateful Dead was central to its identity, more than just a backdrop, but a fundamental part of what made the band a cultural force.
Within the context of a full year of 60th-anniversary celebrations, including concerts, commemorations, and tributes, this show offers fans and art-lovers a fresh perspective on the Dead’s legacy beyond music.
Event Details & What’s Next
The exhibition opens December 6, 2025, and is set to run through June 1, 2026.
A special pre-show concert by a Grateful Dead “super-group,” White Lightning, is scheduled for December 5 at the Bodhi Hive in Nevada City, California, followed the next day by the art exhibition’s premiere.
Future programming, by nonprofit PACT: Psychedelic Arts and Culture Trust, may expand the celebration to include more art, merchandise, and cultural events tied to the band’s influence.