The Original One

5”d x 24” x 7”

European Linden & artist oils

Ken Howard, aka Von Dutch created this flying eyeball graphic in the early 1950s. He was a legend in the custom car and hot rod community for his art and pin striping. He got the idea from much older occult images and Masonic symbolism, but was the first to popularize it, painting it on cars, bikes and jackets. Rick Griffin was a surfer dude, hot rod and underground comic artist heavily influenced by Kustom Culture. He picked up cues from Von Dutch and in 1967-68 Griffin started using flying eyeballs in his psychedelic posters, most notable his 1968 Jimi Hendrix Flying Eyeball concert poster for Bill Graham. Today the poster is considered the bridge between hot rod culture and the psychedelic rock graphics. Pristine original prints of the Hendrix poster have sold for as much as $175K.