“I have people who tell me they remember the artwork from when they were a kid. It’s cool how there’s a new generation that sees this as almost like classic rock.”
– Arik Roper
Arik “Moonhawk” Roper has been essential in helping define a visual style for countless bands and projects that use the word “stoner” in their description. His instantly recognizable illustrations look like a cross between something from an old pulp fiction novel and Heavy Metal magazine. The wild, sci-fi fantasy feelings that Roper’s work evokes have made him a household name in both the music and design world.
A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Roper’s lettering and art have helped forge an artistic schema for the genres of stoner metal and stoner rock. If music dedicated to weed had a Sistine Chapel, its hallways would be painted by him.
In April, Strange Attractor Press in London released Roper’s book, , which is a retrospective of the last 20 years of the artist’s vast career. It’s a collection of sketches, illustrations, and more, that tell the story of a talented individual who carved out his own place in pop culture, providing imagery for Ozzy Osborne, the Grateful Dead, Mishka’s collab, a cartoon, and his own book on exotic mushrooms.
