Sunday drives were a family ritual much like church. On one fateful Sunday in the summer of 1972 while driving through rural Wisconsin with my Dad my black and white world turned Technicolor.

We often had no destination. We would drive through the counties surrounding Milwaukee to enjoy the country and stumble across festivals or carnivals. Such was the case the day we stopped at a carnival in Germantown, Wisconsin. The midway had the typical rides and food vendors. I asked my Dad if I could play the darts and he said yes. Pop! I popped the balloon and won. My prize was to select a poster. There was one that was the coolest thing I ever saw so I picked it. I loved the vibrant colors. This was the beginning of my lifelong obsession with psychedelic art. This was the rabbit hole I climbed into. This was the door I opened and I have never returned.

The black light poster featured Timothy Leary floating in a dripping sun above a hippie filled mushroom valley. The top read Timothy Leary for Governor of California and the bottom read Come Together Join The Party. I recently learned the history behind this piece and how I ended up with a copy defied all odds. It was meant to be for this was one of the rarest black light posters ever produced.

In 1969 Timothy Leary ran for the governor of California against Ronald Reagan. John Lennon wrote the song Come Together for the campaign. Artist Joe Roberts Jr was commissioned to create the imagery and only a limited number were printed. In 1970 when Leary was jailed without bail to prevent him from running the poster was never mass produced. This masterpiece printed on thick stock was the original campaign vision. How a copy ended up in Germantown Wisconsin baffles me but it has hung on my walls ever since and influenced almost every painting I have ever done.

This amazing poster and the art of Joe Roberts Jr illustrate the lands that cannot be described by words that my third eye has taken me to. It is my inability to use language to express these experiences which first made it necessary for me to paint and draw. To this day it is the reason I create art. My work is a tool to record the places I have traveled alone. It is a humble effort at best. My artwork offers only a few snapshots of a vast dimension of spectacular beauty and magnificent glory. I may never capture it correctly but I still feel it is important to try. 

The poster has become quite valuable and copies have sold on eBay for 1250 dollars. I will never sell mine because for me it is priceless as is my love for the art of Joe Roberts Jr. Sadly there is little information regarding what Joe Roberts Jr did after the 1970s. As for me I never dropped out as Mr Leary suggested. I do however still occasionally do my research for the sake of art.