The Flying Eyeball: The Mythopoetics of Rick Griffin
Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture January 1, 2023 Erik Davis
This article argues that Rick Griffin was the most significant artist to come out of late-1960s California psychedelic visual culture. An early underground comix creator who contributed to R. Crumb's Zap, Griffin also produced rock posters and album covers, including the Grateful Dead's Aoxomoxoa. The author contends that Griffin was a genuine spiritual seeker who drew concepts and images from esoteric sources such as Manly P. Hall's Secret Teachings of All Ages, fusing these with psychedelic metaphysics and an ambiance of humor and dread typified by his "flying eyeballs" vision.