Rex Ray was an American artist best known for his innovative Pop aesthetic in fine and commercial art — on canvases, wood panels, album covers, paper, book jackets, murals, and rock and roll posters.
Born in Landstuhl, Germany in 1956, Michael Patterson was raised in Colorado Springs. Before moving to San Francisco in 1981, Patterson, inspired by Andy Warhol, adopted the moniker Rex Ray. He attended the San Francisco Art Institute where he studied with Sam Tchakalian, Kathy Acker, and Angela Davis, and received his BFA in 1989. He became a major force in the Bay Area’s art, literary, and activist communities.
Ray was one of the first artists to use Mac-based technologies in the creative process to generate art and graphics. His early designs include the first graphics for the San Francisco chapter of Act Up; many guerilla marketing flyers and posters for queer nightclubs; and numerous book covers for City Lights Books and HIGH RISK/Serpent’s Tail.
Ray's impressive client roster in the music, fashion, entertainment, and design industries, includes David Bowie, The Residents, Bill Graham Presents, DreamWorks, Levis, Neiman Marcus, Sony Music, Warner Brothers, and Apple. Rex Ray designs have been licensed and produced as distinctive imagery on scarves, carpets, ceramics, wristwatches, surfboards, and even on a Mini Cooper.
During his lifetime Rex Ray generated a prolific body of painting and works on paper. His technique involved a complicated process that combined Xerography, handmade woodblock prints, newsprint, and magazine images into vibrant color schemes with parabolic forms and abstract patterns. His works reference mid-century modernism, Dada, decorative arts, Fluxus, and Pop art deployments associated with Andy Warhol and continue to speak to ideas of beauty during eras known for post-modernist and Conceptual ideologies.
Ray’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Akron Art Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and more. Several books including Cut & Paste, Rex Ray: Art + Design, and Information feature images with writings about his career and artistic practice.
Find Rex Ray art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Lucille Khornak Gallery)
$6,000
Pyzinerol
By Rex Ray
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph, Edition 30 In 2010, Ray made his first lithographs at Shark’s Ink., Pyzinerol and Pyzinerol II. Ambitious prints with 18 colors from 15...
Lithograph
$7,500
Untitled
By Rex Ray
Located in New York, NY
Rex Ray (American 1956-2015) "Untitled", Abstract Mixed Media on Wood, Signed Verso, 16 x 24, Early 21st Century, 2010 - Colors: Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Pink, Black, Brown Rex Ray (Sept. 11, 1956—Feb. 9, 2015) was an American artist best known for his innovative pop aesthetic in fine and commercial art—on canvases, wood panels, album covers, paper, book jackets, murals, and rock and roll posters. Born in Landstuhl, Germany in 1956, Michael Patterson was raised in Colorado Springs. Before moving to San Francisco in 1981, Patterson, inspired by Andy Warhol, adopted the moniker Rex Ray. He attended the San Francisco Art Institute where he studied with Sam Tchakalian, Kathy Acker, and Angela Davis, and received his BFA in 1989. He became a major force in the Bay Area’s art, literary, and activist communities. Ray was one of the first artists to use Mac-based technologies in the creative process to generate art and graphics. His early designs include: the first graphics for the San Francisco chapter of Act Up; many guerilla marketing flyers and posters for queer nightclubs; and numerous book covers for City Lights Books and HIGH RISK/Serpent’s Tail. His impressive client roster in the music, fashion, entertainment, and design industries, includes David Bowie, The Residents, Bill Graham Presents, DreamWorks, Levis, Neiman Marcus, Sony Music, Warner Brothers, and Apple. Rex Ray designs have been licensed and produced as distinctive imagery on scarves, carpets, ceramics, wristwatches, surfboards, and even on a Mini...
Wood, Mixed Media
$3,000
H 50 in W 38 in
Gigi: red black abstract print with poetry based on 1950s vintage movie poster
By Rene Ricard
Located in New York, NY
Touched by the influence of Andy Warhol, champion of a young Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rene Ricard served as enfant terrible of the 1980s New York art scene. This red and black lithograp...
Lithograph
$1,800
H 29.875 in W 22.875 in
"Untitled" lithograph on cardboard by Imi Knoebel from "Kinderstern" portfolio
By Imi Knoebel
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" lithograph on cardboard of red "Star for Children" by artist Imi Knoebel from the "Kinderstern" portfolio, published in 1989 by Edition Domberger to raise money to house f...
Lithograph
$325
H 11 in W 8.5 in
YES TO LIFE-NO TO DRUGS (Oui À La Vie-Non À La Drogue) 1987 Signed Lithograph
By Sami Burhan
Located in Union City, NJ
YES TO LIFE-NO TO DRUGS (Oui À La Vie-Non À La Drogue) is a handmade color lithograph by the internationally recognized Syrian artist Mohammad Sami Burhan printed on archival Arches ...
Lithograph
$800
H 10 in W 10 in D 0.4 in
Untitled limited edition signed abstract geometric print by renowned sculptor
By Keith Sonnier
Located in New York, NY
KEITH SONNIER Untitled, 1995 Letterpress on Sumerset Paper Edition 91/100 Signed and numbered in graphite from the edition of 100, recto Frame included Measurements: Sheet: 6 inches ...
Mixed Media, Pencil, Lithograph
$1,500
H 24 in W 18 in
Yoshitomo Nara Marching on a Butterbur Leaf Print Contemporary Art
By Yoshitomo Nara
Located in Draper, UT
Edition Details: Year: 2019 Class: Art Print Status: Official Released: 10/01/19 Run: 1,000 Technique: Fine Art Lithograph Paper: 80# archival qual...
Lithograph
"Brescia" Abstract Painting Collage
By Michael Pauker
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract expressionist painting and collage by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b.1957). Titled and dated "Brescia 2014" on verso. Unsigned. From a collection of his work. F...
Wood, Mixed Media, Oil, Magazine Paper
$520Sale Price|20% Off
H 14.25 in W 11.25 in
GRAY AND BLACK ABSTRACT 2002 Signed Lithograph, John Ashbery Suite A WAVE Poem
By Will Barnet
Located in Union City, NJ
GRAY AND BLACK ABSTRACT by the American painter and printmaker Will Barnet is an original hand drawn lithograph, printed using hand lithography on archival printmaking paper 100% aci...
Lithograph
$10,184
H 19.69 in W 22.05 in D 1.58 in
Artist Motivation - Mandela, Former South African President, Inspirational Words
By Nelson Mandela
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, Artist's Motivation, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for his family. He spent time with an art tutor and learnt to draw. In 2002, when creating the The Motivation print, he told Anna and Laura from Belgravia Gallery of his desire to become a full time artist when he retired. This artwork is a handwritten Artist’s Motivation by Nelson Mandela and reads: “Today when I look at Robben Island I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit, rather than as a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. Robben Island is a place where courage endured in the face of endless hardship, a place where people kept on believing when it seemed their dreams were hopeless and a place where wisdom and determination overcame fear and human frailty. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls, held back by prison bars...
Lithograph
Julie Curtiss Woman In High Heels Print Contemporary Art
Located in Draper, UT
Title Julie Curtiss Woman In High Heels Small Edition Of Only 10 - 17 X 11 Pristine Condition Year 2019 Classification Limited edition Medium Type Print ...
Lithograph
$690
H 21.75 in W 29.75 in
STONE AND SCRIPT Signed Lithograph, Golden Yellow Tablet Ancient Hebrew, Judaica
By Moshe Castel
Located in Union City, NJ
STONE AND SCRIPT by the Israeli artist Moshe Castel (1909-1991) is a limited edition lithograph printed in 12 colors using traditional lithographic techniques on archival Somerset paper 100% acid free. In Stone and Script, a three dimensional relief effect is visible in the black writings and stone tablet achieved by using shades of gray and black with predominate colors of warm golden yellow and turquoise blue. Castel creates a very aesthetically appealing and captivating contemporary arrangement of ancient...
Lithograph
$4,800
H 18.25 in W 13.5 in
Rippling, limited edition lithograph, Japanese, black, white, red, signed
By Toko Shinoda
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Rippling, limited edition lithograph, Japanese, black, white, red, signed,number
Lithograph
Going
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Stephen identifies the delicate texture and beauty of the natural oxidation process. Oftentimes a found object initiates his work: By incorporating an object directly, imprinting, or...
Mixed Media, Wood, Wood Panel