Psychedelic Art

A wreath of red roses surrounds a skull. A curvy font is written loosely and there is bold choice of contrasting colors. It is a psychedelic rock concert poster for the band Grateful Dead, illustrated by Stanley Mouse. Psychedelic art started in the mid-1960s; inspired by revolutionary political reasons and drugs like LSD. The thing that strikes one about this poster is its similarity to Art Nouveau posters (1890-1910). The Art Nouveau posters had the same idea of the natural forms and structures. It gave the same feeling of curviness, softness and calmness in the way that was eye catching. Many of the famous psychedelic rock concert posters artists were inspired by Art Nouveau.

Drugs influenced the style of the fonts and illustrations. The fonts on the psychedelic posters are similar to the Art Nouveau posters. They both use their fonts in different sizes and in a weird kind of way. It seems as if the artist was hallucinating. From what I have read so far about these artists, most of them were LSD users. Urban Dictionary Defines how LSD influences a person’s perspective: “I became the universe, had deep conversations with my friends cats of whom I was absolutely convinced were gods. I turned to liquid energy and encompassed an entire swimming pool. I flew so fast I became nothing but a vibration… The sun became my man and we fell in love…. Then I returned to Earth, where I will stay forever a changed person.” The fonts the artists’ used on the posters are written as if it is like smoke in a Victorian or Edwardian font style. In the late 1800s Art Nouveau artists took a drug that made them vision weird things. The drug that the artists’ used is Opium. Therefore, that could link the two have the same vivid structure of the fonts.

The use of natural forms and structure is prevalent throughout both types of posters. In most of the Art Nouveau posters and psychedelic posters, a beautiful curvy woman with wild long wavy hair is the main subject on the poster. You will also find swirly branch like borders or frames on them. The looseness in the structure you see in both art forms signifies the craving of freedom and wanting to get rid of all restrictions.