Endless Talent
Photo courtesy of John Van Hamersveld
The winter light was soft against the street outside the darkened gallery. On the corner, the Warner Grand Theatre rose against a blue sky that appeared equally bleached by the sun, and a few paces away chatter rose from a café that emanated the scent of coffee and toast. Meanwhile people walked in and out of traditional storefronts, calmly zigzagging across the empty road.
“It’s like going back in time to 1965,” designer and artist John Van Hamersveld says. “I used to buy my bell-bottom jeans from the Army Surplus store down here.”
John and his wife, Alida Post, opened Post Future: The Art Company on Sixth Street in San Pedro two years ago. They chose the sleepy, almost small-town location for the sense of community they no longer felt was present in Santa Monica.
Alida uses the gallery to display John’s art and the works of like-minded peers. But when it is closed and the overhead lights that illuminate his famous works are dark, John can still be found behind the front door. His workspace is hidden by a neon canvas at the far end of the room, past the Endless Summer poster that launched his career and the various images that tie his name to icons of popular culture.
“I work 16 hours a day. It’s been going on for years,” he says.
