Courtenay Pollock

b. 1944

At the height of the late 60’s counterculture movement, following a profound psychedelic experience, Courtenay Pollock created his first tie-dyed mandala tapestries. Moving west with little more than his new tie-dyed creations, he searched for housing and was led to a home built around two giant redwood trees in Marin County. There, he befriended 22 year old Bob Weir (guitarist for the then-burgeoning Grateful Dead) and was promptly commissioned to create speaker covers, large scale backdrops, and clothing for the now-legendary psychedelic rock band.

For the past 5 decades, Courtenay Pollock has been at the forefront of tie-dye art, pushing the boundaries of the medium and elevating the now ubiquitous art & craft to a highly complex visual language. A combination of intense color and kaleidoscopic geometry results in the dynamic, hallucinatory style for which Pollock has become internationally acclaimed.

Courtenay Pollock’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Art and Design, The New York Historical Society, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, and Bonhams New York. The Grateful Dead and their countless “spinoff” bands have used his legendary tie-dyed stage backdrops for more than 50 years.