Iconic Los Angeles pop modernist artist and graphic designer John Van Hamersveld's inspirational creative output is presented in the new traveling exhibition, CRAZY WORLD AIN'T IT - A 60 year Retrospective of the Iconic Pop Modernist JOHN VAN HAMERSVELD. The exhibition premiered at the Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, CA, in November 2025. This follows previous museum exhibitions of Van Hamersveld's work at the California State University Art Gallery, Northridge, CA, DRAWING ATTENTION in 2013, and ERA OF COOL at the Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA, in 2019. This new retrospective exhibition featuring 75 works highlights 60 years of Van Hamersveld's career: paintings, drawings, prints, posters, photographs, album covers, digital works, photomurals of his public works, and more. Organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. in association with the Fullerton Museum Center the exhibition is available for presentation at museums world wide through 2028.

John Van Hamersveld ranks as one of America’s leading multi-disciplined artists and graphic illustrators of his era. Known for his psychedelic patterns and vivacious color schemes, John received his education from the Art Center College in Los Angeles, CA in the early 1960s, which then gave way for him to launch his professional career as the art director at Surfer Magazine. During this time, Van Hamersveld had an opportunity of a lifetime by designing one of the most recognizable and timeless posters of the 20th Century for the movie, The Endless Summer, directed by Bruce Brown in 1964.

Shortly thereafter, he enrolled as a student at California Institute of Arts, later to become an instructor of art and design. His continued education, as well as the notoriety he garnered with the transcendent design of a burgeoning surf era, led to a vast array of tremendous opportunities. Van Hamersveld assumed the role of art director at Capitol Records where he continued to add to his already impressive portfolio of graphics for famed musicians. From his education at Chouinard/CalArts, he produced the legendary Pinnacle Dance Concerts with such artists as Jimi Hendrix, The Cream, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, among many others, and, designed a number of the concert posters for them.

In the late sixties through the eighties, he created up to 300 album covers, the most notable of which being The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St. These iconic sensibilities and transformative designs produced were beneficial in the conception of logos, typography, and complete graphic identities for such brands as Fatburger, Contempo Casuals, Gotcha, and JIMMY’Z.

The Rolling Stones
Exile on Mainstreet

Over 30 million people worldwide, have seen the culmination of his work on a grand scale, 1,500 feet high and 12 million LEDs bright, at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, NV, in 2015.  

His art has also been featured in a number of exhibitions, including The Endless Summer poster collected by MOMA in New York, and the Surfng Icon poster in the LACMA/Getty PST exhibition in Los Angeles. The documentary film about him called "Crazy World Ain't It" as been viewed over 35,000,000 times!