Psychedelic 60s

Psychedelic 60s //

Psychedelic:

1. Pertaining to or characterised by hallucinations, distortions of perception and awareness, and sometimes psychotic-like behaviour.
2. 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 colour 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 many aspects of popular culture. This included style of dress, language and the way people spoke, art, literature and philosophy.

The name “psychedelic” refers to drugs that were popular with the youth culture of the time. Posters for rock concerts tried to visually express the feeling of tripping out.

Music festivals and concerts were a prominent feature of the 60s landscape, and musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Janice Joplin were the super-stars of the day and from it a unique artform found expression in band posters.

Influential Designers //

Wes Wilson

Wes Wilson was one of the best-known designers of psychedelic posters. Most well known for designing posters for Bill Graham of the The Fillmore in San Francisco

In particular, he is known for inventing and popularizing a psychedelic font around 1966 that made the letters look like they were moving or melting. (pictured below)

Victor Moscoso

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 colours to create the ‘psychedelic’ effect in many of his pieces. The vibration is achieved by taking colours from the opposite end of the colour wheel, each one having equal value (dark to light) and intensity (brightness).

Op & Pop Art

Op art, short for Optical art, is a style of abstraction that relies on geometric shapes, lines, and colour juxtapositions to create optical illusions for the viewer.

“Pop” was a term first applied to popular culture rather than to art, but it would be one of the goals of the Pop art movement to blur the boundaries between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ popular culture.

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