The Cure and Chuck Sperry turn a poster into aid for MSF
A signed, numbered screenprint brings Chuck Sperry’s luminous concert-art language to The Cure, with the store’s net profits directed to Médecins Sans Frontières.
The Cure’s February collaboration with American graphic artist Chuck Sperry joined collectable printmaking to a direct charitable purpose. The centrepiece was a gallery-quality screenprint, signed and numbered by Sperry, with related merchandise built around the same design.
Sperry’s work is rooted in the visual culture of concert posters: elaborate pattern, saturated colour and figures that seem to sit somewhere between classical iconography and psychedelia. That vocabulary is a natural fit for a band whose sleeve and poster designs have always been part of the atmosphere around the music.
The important line in the small print
The Cure confirmed that all net profits from poster sales through their store would go to Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders. It turned the limited edition into more than another piece of tour merchandise and continued Robert Smith’s long habit of attaching special releases and ticketing decisions to practical causes.
The print measures approximately 27 by 21.5 inches. As with most signed and numbered Sperry editions, scarcity is part of the object’s appeal—but the donation gives that scarcity a useful destination rather than making collectability the whole story.
Sources and further reading: The Cure: collaboration announcement · Chuck Sperry: The Cure archive