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| Wes Wilson |
Psychedelic: 1. adj. Pertaining to or characterized by hallucinations, distortions of
perception and awareness, and sometimes psychotic behavior. 2. n. A drug that produces such effects. 3. An art style influenced by the
prevalence of hallucinatory drugs, especially LSD, with typical designs
featuring abstract swirls of intense color with curvilinear calligraphy
reminiscent of Art Nouveau.
The psychedelic movement began in the mid 1960's and had
an effect, not just on music, but also on the way people spoke, on art, literature and
philosophy. Posters for rock
concerts visually emulated tripping out. The visual motifs included Art
Nouveau-inspired curvilinear shapes, illegible hand-drawn type, and intense
optical coloration inspired by the pop art movement ten years prior. The end of WWII in
1945 brought about a post-war economic boom in the U.S., and with it an enormous spike in the birth rate, the Baby Boom. Between 1945 and
1957 nearly 76 million babies were born in America. By the mid 60s, most of
these kids were young adults. As young people do, "Baby Boomers" questioned America’s materialism and conservative cultural and political
norms. During the 1960s a youth movement emerged, seeking to create an
egalitarian society free from discrimination. The Feminist and the
Civil Rights Movements were a direct result of this evolution. Americans in the 60s
and 70s addressed many controversial issues — from human rights, the
Vietnam War, nuclear proliferation, and the environment to drug use, sexual
freedom, and nonconformity. Many young people sought spiritual experiences through
Eastern Mysticism and psychedelic drugs.
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| Victor Morosco |
Wes Wilson was one of the best-known designers of
psychedelic posters. Most well known for designing posters for The Fillmore in San Francisco, he invented a style that is now synonymous
with the peace movement, psychedelic era, and the 1960s. In particular, he is
known for inventing and popularizing a psychedelic font that made
the letters seem like they were moving or melting.
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| Victor Moscoso |
Victor Moscoso was a formally trained graphic designer who borrowed from comic books,
Victorian images, Art Nouveau, and pop art. He used the concept of vibrating
colors to create the psychedelic effect in many of his pieces. The vibration
is achieved by taking colors from the opposite end of the color wheel, each one
having equal value (dark to light) and intensity (brightness).
Op art, short for Optical art, is a style of abstraction
that relies on geometric shapes, lines, and color juxtapositions to create
optical illusions for the viewer. Gaining popularity in the 1960s, such art
often features patterns, grids, and effects like curving or diminishing
objects. The Op art movement was driven by artists who were interested in
investigating various perceptual effects.
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| Wes Wilson |
Pop is a term first applied to popular culture rather
than to art, but it was one of the goals of the Pop Art Movement to blur
the boundaries between "high" art and [low] popular culture. Pop Art was one of the major, intrinsically American, artistic
movements of the 20th century. The phrase was coined in Britain in 1955
but unsurprisingly the Americans took up the consumerist cause with much
greater effect and conviction, and became the pioneers of the movement. Pop Art (and Pop Culture) broke down the barriers between art and culture: packaging, television, advertisements, comic books, the cinema. Simultaneously, Pop Art emphasized the kitschy elements of popular
culture as a protest against the elitist art culture and the pretentiousness surrounding it. It glorified unappreciated objects and ordinary business. In doing so, it aimed
to make art meaningful for everyday people and came to target a broad
audience. Although it gained many supporters for the way it was easy to
comprehend, critics saw Pop Art as vulgar. The ideology of the Pop Artists, from Warhol to Rauschenberg opened up the doors for the hippie art of Mouse and Kelley, Wilson and Moscoso in America, and would soon inspire the likes of Martin Sharp, Nigel Waymouth and Michael English in Britain.
