HARDY, Don Ed (American, b. 1945). Garden. [San Francisco], 1966. Intaglio etching proof on paper by master tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy, depicting the backyard garden of his San Francisco Russian Hill apartment while he attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied printmaking and illustration and earned his BFA in 1967.

One of a small number of proofs reportedly pulled from the plate during Hardy's years at SFAI, shortly before he departed for Vancouver, where he tattooed under the name Ed Talbot. The work belongs to a group of early domestic and neighborhood subjects produced during this period, which also included his well-known self-portrait Future Plans. Other impressions and related prints from this period are held in institutional and private collections. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco holds other artist proofs from the Garden series. 

Signed and dated to the lower right, with accompanying contemporary signature to the verso of the frame. *This later signature was acquired at time of the included photograph with Hardy holding this original early work. With a copy of RE/SEARCH (San Francisco, 2013) with Ed Hardy feature and interview. Frame 11 x 9", plate 7 1/2 x 6". 

A clean, dark impression; slight waviness to paper.