Poster Designer Takes Class on a Tour of Rock

During the last 25 years, artist-designer John Van Hamersveld has seen his life and his art come full circle. Creator of the famous 1965 “Endless Summer” poster and other symbols of the ‘60s, the 46-year-old Van Hamersveld has in recent years turned his talents to more traditional corporate products, such as sportswear.

“This is 25 years later, and I think I’m good at what I do,” he said Thursday as he led about 50 students at Cal State Fullerton through those 25 years at the premiere of “The Music Look,” a slide-show lecture on his artwork.

Rock ‘n’ roll is emphasized in the 480-slide show, with Van Hamersveld displaying work he has done on rockers ranging from Jim Morrison to Billy Idol. And although there is a history lesson about the ‘60s to be learned, there also are just plain art lessons, including several about art as a commercial entity.

“It’s not a cold art show, and it’s not a music show,” said Harvey Kubernik, an independent record producer and artist’s agent who has formed a company with Van Hamersveld called HamerInk/Kubco to produce “The Music Look.”

“The show’s not soaked in the ‘60s. He talks about the ‘60s, but he talks about new stuff, too.”

The “new stuff” includes depictions of Van Hamersveld’s current work as art director for L.A. Style Magazine, his 360-foot mural at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the 1984 Olympic Games and his recent work for Jimmy Z and Gotcha sportswear companies. He still does work for the Costa Mesa-based Gotcha company and on Thursday was wearing a striped shirt with the company name written across the back.

All of that marks to some degree an evolution of methods and themes he helped create in the ‘60s during stints with Surfer Magazine and Capitol Records, he said. The “icons” of that period include, in addition to the “Endless Summer” poster, the design of such landmark album covers as the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” and the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street.”

The evolution of the art in many ways reflects the evolution of the artists themselves, as similar themes are recycled with a new twist, he said. Madonna is an ‘80s Janis Joplin, Billy Idol is an ‘80s Jim Morrison (“the leather and the beads and the voice,” he said) and Prince is the ‘80s answer to Jimi Hendrix. “It’s just managing the same images and the same songs; only it’s done in a different way, slightly,” he said.

“Most of the record company executives who are my age, they grew up in the ‘60s,” he said. “And the product they’re selling is Madonna and Idol and Prince.”

Even the technology has evolved, he said. “Look at MTV, look at CDs, look where albums have come from,” he said.

Van Hamersveld, who taught college-level art for a decade, said he has noticed a dramatic change in today’s art students. “They want jobs; they need to work,” he said.

On Thursday it was apparent that college students had remained the same in one way: They still love his work. After the show, many of them crowded around a table to purchase copies of the ‘60s “icons” he had created.

“They (the posters) have a youthful quality to them, and that’s what they see in them,” Van Hamersveld said.

Thursday night was the only showing of the “The Music Look” at Cal State Fullerton, Kubernik said. Spring dates have been set at the University of the Pacific in Stockton and CAL ARTS in Valencia, he said.