I decided to look into ‘Fifty Years Of Illustration’ in search for variance, originality and counterculture in the 20th century. Counterculture: The culture and lifestyle of those people, especially among the young,who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society. (Oxford Dictionary)
The counterculture movement started during the 1960’s to 1970’s.
Michael English was one artist that I looked at. He contributed to the international times and created posters for Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyed. But the poster that caught my eye was ‘Love Festival’ which he created using screen print and bright colours and it screams 1960/hippies.
What I also like about this poster is that the title (Love Festival) stand out. It looks very fun and unique with the way he made it look like the words and being shouted out of the smiling mouth. I also like the final outcome of screen prints which is why English is an artist that caught my eye.
Love Festival, Osiris Visions Ltd, 1967
Rick Griffin, being another artist in the 60’s, he created psychedelic illustrated comics, posters and albums. He started to make iconic posters for Chet Helms’s family events at the Avalon Ballroom. Griffin then had a long-standing relationship with the band Grateful Dead which then he started to also designing LP covers and posters for.
I like the symmetry of his work and again the bright colours used like English’s work. However Griffins illustration isn’t really my style of work. I do appreciate his work but it isn’t something that I would be interested in creating.
Aoxomoxoa, album, Grateful Dead/Warner Bros, 1969
Another illustrator that created some of the most amazing, colourful posters is Victor Moscoso. He created psychedelic and bright coloured posters, ad campaigns and album artwork for musicians such as Jerry Garcia and Herbie Hancock. He also created underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
I like Moscoso’s work because I am interested in illustration and creating posters. I appreciate the typography that he uses with the repetitive patters.
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Neon Rose, the Matrix 1967
Reference:
ZEEGEN, L. AND ROBERTS, C., Fifty years of illustration, In-text: (Zeegen and Roberts, 2014), Your Bibliography: Zeegen, L. and Roberts, C. (2014). Fifty years of illustration. 1st ed. Laurence king.