A look behind the art. Local artist Lil Tuffy shares what goes into creating the new concert posters included in our latest installment of the Chase Center Art Collection.
Lil Tuffy is an American artist and designer in the field of modern rock/pop poster art, also known as gig poster art, as well as serigraph and fine art production. Tuffy began his career in San Francisco at the Firehouse with Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan. His work has been exhibited in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, and the UK and he regularly appears at music festivals including South by Southwest, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Noise Pop, Primavera Sound, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Reeperbahn Festival and more.
Tuffy's artistic style is greatly influenced by Postminimalism, as well as advertising artwork of the 20th century. He has cited Saul Bass, Andy Warhol and Art Chantry as major influences. Although he works in a variety of styles, it primarily incorporates limited color palettes, simple typography and the use of negative space.
As a member of the 2000s resurgence of the poster-art scene, Tuffy has worked with SF Bay Area based Another Planet Entertainment (APE), the top independent concert promoter in the United States, for the last 20 years. Thanks to a generous donation from APE, twenty of Tuffy’s legendary concert posters are showcased throughout Chase Center, including artwork for Atmosphere, Fleet Foxes, Hardwell, Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington, ODESZA, Pretty Lights, RUSS, Soundgarden, The Lumineers, The National, THE WEEKND, Vampire Weekend, SYLVAN ESSO, Outside Lands 2011, Outside Lands 2021, Social Distortion, The Shins, Deadmau5, Tycho, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
To view Lil Tuffy’s artwork within the APE collection of over 150 concert posters throughout Chase Center, head to the following areas:
- Outside United Club 3rd floor
- Portal 8, Section 108 (3rd floor)
- Portal 46, Section 208 (6th floor)
- Portal 49, Section 211 (6th floor)
- Portal 56, Section 220 (6th floor)
- Portal 58 (6th floor)
