John Van Hamersveld, Thundercloud.
The artist John Van Hamersveld (b. 1941) has played an instrumental role in shaping the visual culture of rock 'n' roll and life in Southern California since the 1960s. Holding influential positions as an art director for Surfer Magazine and Capitol Records, he transcended these roles by designing hundreds of album covers for musicians like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles along with leading the surf culture aesthetic for decades. His iconic image for the movie The Endless Summer in 1964 and his concert poster for Jimi Hendrix at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium in 1968 have become two of the most recognizable and well-known images in their respective genres, securing JVH's place in design history.
Establishing a firm groundwork as a poster designer, a reflective Van Hamersveld has launched into a new era of creativity in the 21st century where the work is just as fresh and groundbreaking amidst postmodern theory, different audiences, and radical changes in the industry. Technology fundamentally altered the foundation of how designers functioned in the late 1990s and JVH successfully reimagined how his work was made as an artist. Despite the shift, he was still able to maintain his unique lens and originality that brought him so much notoriety in previous decades.
Announcement for John Van Hamersvelds Johnny Face billboard, 1972.
--
--
A slew of posters capture the first two decades of JVH's career, from the underground psychedelic scene to refined posters designed for La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, Wet Magazine and the 1984 Olympics. The first 21 years of designs were inspired by surf culture and the professional aesthetic of museums. The slight changes during this time period were mainly due to a growing sophistication from customers and clients.
JVH pinpoints his Johnny Face, an image that functioned as a logo for himself as the end of an era. The Johnny Face transitioned from a poster to 224 KRLA billboards in Los Angeles and Orange County. A new way of thinking about distribution of the poster, the billboard was an emerging form of public art and left an impression for how this imagery might change in the future.
After two decades of designing posters, JVH sensed the impending change and move away from posters in the late 1980s. The importance of designing logos and T-shirts were what clients wanted and the poster all but disappeared. So JVH spent some time in the classroom as an important member of the progressive curriculum at CalArts. Designers overall had a lessened impact at larger companies in the 1980s, so JVH transitioned to becoming a design consultant. I met with vice presidents and presidents and offered word problems and discussed how art and design could be used in their companies. You can thank JVH for much of the day glow colors that dominated the 1980s during this time, as his ideas were instituted for over 15 years in this position.
John Van Hamersvelds Cream poster, 2005.
Essentially an ephemeral medium, the poster is an accessible and social product that has communication as its top priority. Yet the appeal of the imagery and product to the public has made it a collector's item as well. From ancient communities to the advent of the industrial revolution, individuals and businesses have used the poster to influence the public. While the printing press gradually improved from the 19th to the 20th century, it was the digital revolution that saturated the marketplace with affordable printing processes and technology suited for the individual.
JVH recalls the changes of the late 1990s: The digital wiped out corporate hierarchy over the span of five to six years Softened by the year 2000 -- I had to start over -- I would start over in this way and that I would draw my images and that I would own them and that I would be an artist - which was launched with the Cream poster. By drawing his own images for himself, JVH stopped the service-minded aspect of design and functioned instead as an artist.
John Van Hamersvelds Crossing America tour, 2005-2006.
In 2005 JVH's launched his first new poster since 1989 when he was asked to create Cream's reunion poster. To his astonishment, it was received with exceptional success. The image sold out the first day of the concert and the producers had to print 1,000 more to satisfy the incredible demand. Over the remaining days of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, they eventually sold out of the image again. The poster had all but been buried a decade ago but for some reason, it had a new life.
The Cream poster ended up being the cover of the live album and the success led to JVH going on a 2005-2006 tour to visit 17 Tower Record stores, selling posters around the country. Yet as JVH recalls: Tower Records was selling its stores. Taking away the mode of delivery of selling posters. The end of an era, JVH realized that he must be the artist, producer, and distributer to control the entire system. The first 21 years was about serving the culture. The last 11 years is really about wanting to own the work rather than serve the work.
The big difference for JVH is that he was not servicing a company anymore. From the Cream poster on, he was making everything and owning the images so they could continue to live on in contemporary forms of distribution. The accessibility of the poster has now translated into murals, much like the billboard many years ago. While the life of the poster is perhaps short, the distributor has the ability to show the work in multiple mediums. The artist as originator and promoter has become the new model. My work has gone on to murals. I went out the back door from this history into a new medium. As Van Hamersveld continues to create posters, it's the craft that excites him. The scale and distribution of h
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
John Van Hamersveld, Thundercloud. 
