Psychedelic Art

Psychedelic art found its beginning, interestingly enough, as a result of a scientific lab experiment on LSD. Psychiatrist Oscar Janiger, wanted to view the effects of LSD on the artist's creative process. Almost all of the artist volunteers in the experiment experienced an increase in creative output as a result of LSD as "LSD causes expansion and an altered experience of senses, emotions, memories, time, and awareness for 6 to 14 hours, depending on dosage and tolerance," according to Wikipedia.*1


LSD was embraced by the youth underground in San Fransisco and elsewhere and in the 1960s and early 1970s artwork that mimicked a kaleidoscopic LSD trip began appearing on the scene manifesting itself in Psychedelic artwork, mostly in the form of posters for bands and music events.


This new kind of art, while influenced by drug use, was also stylistically influenced by the Art Nouveau movement as well as Dada, Surrealism, and Pop art. "Richly saturated colors in glaring contrast, elaborately ornate lettering, strongly symmetrical composition, collage elements, and bizarre iconography are all hallmarks of the San Francisco psychedelic poster art style," according to Wikipedia.*2


One psychedelic poster artist, Victor Moscoso, uses a "vibrating color" technique to achieve a kaleidoscopic effect in his work. "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). An example is red and green. Because there is no break between the colors, your eye does not know which one to focus on as the colors ‘compete’. This effect only happens along the edges where these colors touch." *3

The psychedelic brand of art is still used today and recently appeared in the "Respect the Van" ad campaign by Honda.


kristen

sources:
http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=98&fid=485
*1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Sensory_.2F_perception
*2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_art
*3http://www.victormoscoso.com/aboutvictor.html