Psychedelia

Psychedelia:

           The psychedelic movement started in the mid 1960’s effected a lot of things such as music but its effects also lingered on many characteristics of popular culture. This included fashion in which meant the style of what kind of clothes were being worn at that time, the language and how people communicated with each other and the way how people spoke about the arts, literature and philosophy.

         The term “psychedelic” refers to the effects that drugs leave on the individual. During that period drugs were very popular within the youths. The posters which were designed for rock concerts a lot of effort was put in to try to express visually the drug-like feeling of tripping out.

          The visuals of the psychedelic art include inspirations from the much earlier movements and their characteristics such as the Art Nouveau-inspired whiplash shapes, and “un-able to read” hand-drawn typography, and the intense optical colorful vibrations which were heavily inspired by the Pop Art movement.

           The end of World War II in 1945 brought with it a post-war economic boost in the United States of America. It also brought a fluctuation in the birth rate which is famously known as “the baby boom.” It is known that between 1945 and 1957 about 76 million babies were born in America and by the middle of 1960s, most of these kids were the young adults of that generation.

            As young people usually do, these “baby boomers” started questioning America’s greediness and the conservative cultural and political social norms. Following these events a youth movement emerged, which sought to create an free society which was free from discrimination. The Feminists and the Black movement are the off-spring of this revolution.

           The Americans in the 1960s and 70s started to address a lot of controversial issues which ranged from civil rights, the Vietnam War, nuclear explosions and the environment to have free drug use, sexual freedom and being original. Many youth sought spiritual beliefs through Eastern Mysticism and the usage of drugs that induced psychedelia. 

     

            There was also a rise in music festivals and concerts and they were a very prominent feature of the 60s eralandscape, and there were a lot musicians that were in vogue such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Grateful Dead and Janice Joplin who were the super-stars of those times. It is very hard to say whether the psychedelic music influenced the culture itself or vice versa. It was a unique artform that found its expression in prominent band posters.

Graphic Design History, (2011). Psychedelic 60s. [online] Available at: https://visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com/psychedelic-60s/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].

Gds.parkland.edu, (2015). Graphic Design History | Psychedelia. [online] Available at: http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/1960/psychedelia.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015].