The Decade that just keeps giving
We are back in the 1960’s. This decade was so pivotal and influential to the world of art and design it is difficult not to keep returning to it.
In the latter half of the decade Psychedelia became part of the counterculture movement. The art form features distorted and surreal visuals using highly saturated colour. The arts, visual displays and graphics were influenced and inspired by the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD.
Not that I am advocating a voyage to trip out city!
The artists of the time would ingest the drug and then describe in the medium of their choice the visions, experiences and hallucinations. The term “psychedelic” was coined by Humphry Osmond, a British psychologist and it means “mind manifesting”. Using that definition all attempts to convey the inner mind using art could be considered “psychedelic”.
This phase in our history of art and design, ran as a counterpart to the psychedelic rock movement. Images appeared on concert posters, album covers (oh the world before spotify. It was admittedly, limited to the fifteen or so tracks that could be laid down on vinyl, but it was also colourful and full to bursting with amazing, individual and inspiring art works).
Other formats for the communication of the art form were liquid light shows/art, comic books, murals and underground newspapers.
The movement not only mirrored the kaleidoscopic shifting colour patterns of the drug induced hallucinations but also the increasing interest in revolutionary political, spiritual and social sentiments of the time. Some derived from the use of psychedelic drugs and the altering states of consciousness and some from the increasingly savvy and aware youth.
San Francisco artists, Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse, Bonnie MacLean, Alton Kelley and Victor Moscoso were the most prolific psychedelic artists of the time. Their works were richly influenced by Art Nouveau, Dada, Pop art and Victoriana. Using highly saturated colour, glaring contrasts, symmetrical composition, elaborate lettering (which in some cases was difficult to read but encouraged the viewer to spend more time observing the art to decipher the script). All of these artists produce album covers, and remind the hub of psychedelic art into the 70’s.
Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, and Victor Moscoso were the founders of Berkeley Bonaparte which created and marketed psychedelic posters.
As with many things that start out as counterculture the movement gained traction in the mainstream. The use of the term “psychedelic” came to represent anything that reflected the youth culture, anything fashionable, colourful or unusual.
As we moved through the 70’s advertising and major commercial companies co-opted the movement into the heart of commercial capitalism. A radical shift from the free spirited, mind expanding exploration of consciousness and political subversion at its own heart.