Robert Fried Biography

Unlike many of the other poster artists from the '60s, who were either self-taught or came up through doing comic illustration and pin stripping cars, Bob Fried, like Victor Moscoso, came up through formal training in commercial and fine arts. He was always sketching, and it was primarily figurative drawing and portraits. He worked in charcoal and graphite. From an early age, Bob Fried was focused on his art, and in the process of discovering what his own work might be.

Trained as a commercial artist, Bob Fried came to San Francisco from New York to study at the Art Institute and work as a free-lance designer. In 1966, he began to look at the rock posters that were appearing throughout the Bay Area. Encouraged by Victor Moscoso, whom he met at the Art Institute, he began to create his own posters.