About us

Shakedown Gallery
The Shakedown Gallery is a premiere attraction that appears at music festivals around the country. We specialize in psychedelic art and rock and roll collectibles, working with such artists as Stanley Mouse, Alex Grey, Jeff Wood and Michael DuBois to create creative products and reach smiling crowds, online and around the world. We also produce blotter art. Lots of blotter art.

Our Mission

The gallery, which began as The Merlin’s Wheel Gallery, was conceived as a collaboration between Grateful Dead artist Mikio Kennedy and a student of Kesey / Prankster lore, Shady Backflash with the mission of merging the Beat and Psychedelic legacy of the '60s with the aesthetic shared by the artists who came out of the Grateful Dead parking lot scene in the 1980s. Over time the Gallery has also begun to integrate art from the modern visionary and psychedelic artists who inspire us.

History of The Gallery

The Gallery's first major outing was the ill-fated Woodstock ’99 event, where the gallery hosted a full photo display by Woodstock photographer Elliott Landy and an endearing re-encounter by Elliott and Woodstock emcee Wavy Gravy. Alas, the show ended with burning tractor trailers mere yards from our booth and gallery staff took up sticks and rods to strike a defensive stance against rioting frat boys. Woodstock ’99, which we later dubbed Mobstock, was not exactly an auspicious beginning. The following month, Leda from Gathering of the Vibes asked to see photos of the gallery at Mobstock and was so impressed with the photos that she suggested we do a similar set-up at Vibes in 2000. With generous support from Vibes promoter Ken Hays, the Merlin’s Wheel Gallery presented itself as The Vibes Gallery and became a staple at the festival that endures to this day. The Gallery, as it came to be known, set up at Wakarusa, Bonnaroo, and Langerado in the years that followed, but Gathering of the Vibes is always the place where The Gallery has its finest hour. Over the years the gallery was rebranded from The Merlin’s Wheel Gallery to “That gallery on Shakedown Street” to Shakedown Gallery. In the near future, a partner site, The Golden Road Gallery, will launch with more of an emphasis on screen prints, posters and Giclees by the artists involved in the Shakedown Gallery Blotter Art project. Whether as Shakedown Gallery or any other name, we specialize in psychedelic art, often obtaining signed pieces by psychedelic luminaries such as Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, Albert Hofmann, Jerry Garcia, Wavy Gravy and others. It typically features artwork from the Grateful Dead art scene, including such licensed Grateful Dead artists as Stanley Mouse, Tina Carpenter, Mikio Kennedy, William Giese, Richard Biffle, Mike DuBois and others. Visionary artist Alex Grey is a close friend and ally who frequently allows us to sell signed Giclees and posters and we work closely with Alex to sell CoSM merchandise at his own events. If you’ve seen something for sale in the gallery at a show but don’t see it on the web, drop a line and ask if it is still in stock. The site is primarily for selling the prints we produce, but we can still accommodate sales of rare and hard to find items. Thank you and please stop back often. The site is being continuously developed.