"Psychedelic Language" continued

Before I get too “heavy,” I’ll click to one of my favorite posters by Victor Moscoso. It’s impeccably crafted.

The bouquet of flowers double as letter forms, and if you look closely at the vase, you’ll see a silhouette of an upside down face. It’s beautifully set up for hours of interpretation and discussion. I translated the poster’s information in this next slide.

This is it...I was trying to be neutral with the form, but it ended up looking like Russian Constructivism. And, in fact, no matter how I might have arranged it, its visual form would have “said” something. The point is that when a graphic designer understands visual symbolism, or “the why” behind “the what,” then there’s the freedom to decide if it should be built into the design or not. In this case I’d opt out, unless I could make some rational for the Russian Constructivist connection.

It’s clear that many of the Psychedelic poster artists borrowed heavily from other styles and time periods like this direct pick-up from Art Nouveau. But it made sense within the context of counter-culture—it was flowing and dreamlike rather than clean and timeless. And what I find redeeming in all this “piracy” is that it became its own language. As design critic Steve Heller wrote in his book, Graphic Wit, “Psychedelia borrowed from the vernaculars of previous times and places to become the vernacular of its own time and place.” The language was used to speak to a community of people that understood. It became a Psychedelic language.

There were forms that were even derived from Roman and Gothic sources like this poster by Bonnie Maclean, who’s one of the few female artists represented here, and it’s another example of how individuals brought their obsessions into the fold, or coordinates, of the Psychedelic language.

As was a definite interest in Eastern spirituality that may have helped encourage a more adventurous use of color.

I imagine that some of the poster artists related their use of LSD to the absinthe Parisian artists drank in the 1800s. But in order to attain this level of craft it’s doubtful that they were tripping while creating these forms. They really translated the experience of LSD, after the fact. Of course, the electronic music and experimental light shows that flowed together were also huge factors in the translation.

This poster by Wes Wilson is especially described as being an example of Psychedelic vision. There seems a face embedded in there, and what I find humorous is that it was done for Van Morrison, and rendered in this vibrant brushwork, because Van’s name brought to mind the post-impressionist painter, and absinthe addict, van Gogh.

When you look at the previous generation’s music posters you don’t see the same visual expression or coding. Most of the early rock and roll posters had a boxing poster look because of the printing method used—letterpress. Blocky wood type made it hard to integrate the visual form with the music, except for maybe a shouting graphic feel.

This is an early Psychedelic poster. They stood out from the boxing poster types because they used hand drawn, creative lettering. It was a drastic alternative to the in-your-face boxing graphics. And they also had imbedded in them, an anti-slick, anti-advertising approach, which was more like art than advertising. Advertising was far too ”uncool” a code to use to fill dance halls.