Grateful Dead co-founder’s spirit is alive and well in the rich and varied Vince and Gloria DiBiasi Archive
The most recognizable figure in one of the world’s most beloved bands has a name that sums up decades of American optimism: Jerry Garcia. Countless Grateful Dead fans mourned his death – in 1995 at the age of 53 – in a way that felt like the end of far more than an era. For more than three decades the Dead, with Garcia at the helm, served as the musical embodiment of an entire state of mind – one that spoke to generations of seekers who never lost sight of things that matter: tolerance, community, trust, resilience, the unifying power of art and the expansive possibilities of the mind.
After a diabetes-related health crisis in 1986 that nearly killed him, Garcia rebounded and enjoyed another nine years on this earthly plane, as a visual artist and as the Dead’s most shamanistic founder – and two people were instrumental, so to speak, in keeping him healthy, happy and productive in his later years. Vince and Gloria DiBiasi were the longtime personal assistants, life- and often business managers of one of the world’s most revered creative souls. Due to their shared admiration and affection for Garcia, the couple from New York gave up their comfortable East Coast life to assist Garcia in his busy California enthusiasms. About the DiBiasis, the Dead’s bass player, Phil Lesh, writes in his acclaimed and authoritative book Searching for the Sound: My Life With the Grateful Dead: “The DiBiasis was a steadfast, loving couple, with grown children, who had formed the only real constant in Jerry’s life (other than his music) throughout the turbulent comings and goings of girlfriends, his illnesses, and the demands on his time and energy from every direction imaginable. Vince acted as Jerry’s personal assistant, as well as his liaison for the commercial end of his artwork projects … Gloria was the rock around which all the currents swirled…”
The couple’s intimacy with Garcia in his later years was unmatched, and his presence continued in their lives long after his death due to their much-loved collection of Garcia’s artwork and personal belongings that add up to a portrait of the man himself. And November 18-20, as part of its sweeping Memorabilia & Concert Posters Signature Auction, Heritage offers up a special section dedicated to the Vince and Gloria DiBiase Archive. The lots in this event – from Garcia’s personal Dead memorabilia to his furniture to his artwork to other familiar items – represent a remarkable encapsulation of Garcia’s daily existence at home, as well as his life as a visual artist and, of course, as an active member of one of the world’s most popular institutions that claim one of the world’s most tenacious group of followers, the Deadheads.
And the Deadheads – Garcia’s fans – know that before he helped found the Dead, the Renaissance man studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and throughout his storied music career he never stopped creating visual art. He admired the holographic artworks of a Wall Street executive and Deadhead named Vince DiBiasi, and after Garcia struck up a warm friendship with Vince and his wife Gloria, the couple moved out to Marin County to help Garcia manage his properties, his art-making career, and his health. It was Vincent and his brother David who kept a check on the wilder parties thrown by Garcia’s older daughter Trixie (his kid with the one and only Mountain Girl), and it was a favorite leather recliner of Garcia’s that a pre-fame Tupac Shakur, a friend of Trixie’s, would seek out on his visits to the Garcia household. “Hey, Man, look at me. I’m in Jerry Garcia’s chair!” The chair, purchased for Garcia by Mountain Girl, is just one item that leads the DiBiasi Archive event. Also on offer: The velvet couch Garcia loved and recuperated on: The doctor who treated him after a 1992 health scare is pictured with him, in a cheerful color photo, on this Garcia family couch.
Two lots of special note include two different briefcases owned by Garcia, to be auctioned complete with their original contents. “The briefcases feature contents that Jerry read, touched, worked on and kept,” says Gary Shrum, Heritage’s Director of Entertainment & Music Memorabilia. “Real gems that are pure to the faithful as well as pieces of music history. How unbelievable it is to be able to offer these personal goodies all these years after Jerry Garcia’s passing? It’s unprecedented indeed and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is a real inside look into the life of an icon.”
One briefcase includes personal letters, greeting cards, hand-written narratives, uncashed checks, Garcia’s car’s registration and more. The other briefcase holds original sketches, financial documents, music charts and sheet music for songs, a letter asking Jerry to help an attorney subsidize a fight for the legalization of marijuana and much more.
Aside from some other charming personal items from Garcia’s trove, including several pairs of his hallmark Ray-Ban sunglasses and a lamp from his family home, this event offers Grateful Dead tour and promotional memorabilia. Every bit of business associated with the Dead and Garcia is known for its heightened aesthetics and artwork, and Garcia’s personal backstage passes are no exception, along with a Grateful Dead “Skull and Roses” print signed by its renowned artist Stanley Mouse, and a European tour poster by artist Rick Griffin. His own touring group, the Jerry Garcia Band, was an ongoing endeavor, and on offer are handwritten lyrics, a handwritten set list (“Look Out Cleveland”), and even a band settlement statement (sporting Jane Fonda’s phone number hand-written on the back by Garcia) dated 1977.
A dedicated Jerry Garcia auction would not be complete without original artwork by a man who never stopped creating. “Captain Trips” certainly earned his nickname, and his varied and accomplished artwork gives music and art-lovers alike a key to his oceanic brain. Original sketches like this one illustrate the visionary characteristics Garcia’s followers adore, as does this 1970s “Mystery Cats” original sketch evoking Garcia’s studio album and song Cats Under the Stars. Digital tools helped Garcia reach the trippy and dreamlike qualities he chased and cherished, as seen in this original digital artwork titled “Infrared Skulls,” as well as the quietly meditative “Autumn,” the comedic digital artwork “Frank” and the resolved yet mind-bending “Devil” starring a very red cat in a very red hellscape. Many of the works on offer are hand-autographed. These and the limited-edition works in the event clearly spring from a mind with an endless horizon – a true artist’s artist who helped shape our world, and who we mourn to this day.
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer.
