A trip into the Sunset studio of a psychedelic art legend

Welcome to Studio Visit, a new series spotlighting Bay Area artists and the spaces they work in. Joe Roberts is fuzzy on the details, but there was a time when tripping on acid, DMT, or mushrooms felt as routine as a visit to the grocery store.  But in recent years, Roberts, 47, has largely outgrown psychedelics. In fact, the artist says, he hasn’t tripped in three months. These days, his inspiration comes more from his 2-year-old son, Ocean, than from the world of hallucinogens. Heavily entwined with San Francisco’s underground skate, punk rock, and graffiti scenes in the early 2000s, Roberts has developed something of a cult following with his psychedelic landscape and still life paintings. Roberts’ designs have been featured on fashion lines from Supreme and the local hill-bombing crew GX1000. Just this week, his work adorned the cover of Father John Misty’s new single. Roberts is also set to paint a mural for Thrasher’s new Haight Street store, opening this fall.