Rick Griffin was one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His work for Surfer Magazine, which began and ended with his autobiographical cartoon character, Murphy, leads the reader through a metamorphosis taken by Griffin and numerous other Californians—from an innocent gremmie surfing through the early ‘60s, to a psychedelic ranger in the mid ‘60s, and, finally, a disciple of the King, Griffin carved a wide loop.

Just when it seemed he and his creation, Murphy, were forever fixed in a separate reality, the plates shifted again, and, in November 1970, Griffin converted to Christianity. Following his creator’s lead, the final view of Murphy in Surfer is of the redeemed and cleaned up kid bowing at the foot of the Cross.

Along the way to his own conversion, Griffin’s clients would include the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Jackson Browne The Cult, Zap Comix and Rolling Stone.

Rick Griffin died on August 18, 1991 in a motorcycle accident in Petaluma, California.

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