Collection: Jay Blakesberg

Jay Blakesberg is a San Francisco-based photographer and filmmaker whose iconic images have helped define the visual history of American rock and roll. A longtime contributor to many magazines including Rolling Stone, Relix, MOJO, to name a few, Blakesberg has photographed hundreds of legendary musical artists over the past four decades, including the Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Phish, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ben Harper, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Carlos Santana, and so many more.

His photographs have appeared in over 200 album and CD packages and have been published in hundreds of magazines worldwide. He is the author of seventeen acclaimed coffee table books chronicling the evolution of American music and culture through his lens.

Blakesberg’s work has been exhibited in leading museums and cultural institutions across the United States, including the Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco), the Haight Street Art Center (San Francisco), the GRAMMY Museum® (Los Angeles, California), and the Morris Museum (Morristown, New Jersey).

In 2024, the Grateful Dead photography exhibition he curated along with his daughter Ricki Blakesberg was the centerpiece of The Dead Forever Experience, an immersive installation presented by Dead & Company at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas during their historic Sphere residency. The exhibition, which welcomed more than 65,000 visitors, featured dozens of Blakesberg’s images and offered a sweeping visual narrative of the Grateful Dead’s 60-year legacy.

In 2025, his work is on view at David Kordansky Gallery (Los Angeles) as part of the exhibition An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965–1995, organized in conjunction with the release of a major new book of the same name. The exhibition marks a significant moment in the recognition of music photography as fine art, bringing Blakesberg’s work into dialogue with one of the most influential contemporary art spaces in the country.

Widely celebrated for both artistic impact and cultural significance, Blakesberg’s work captures the spirit, intimacy, and energy of the artists he photographs and the communities around them. His deep commitment to visual storytelling continues to shape how generations of fans see and remember the music that has defined their lives.