Celebrating Psychedelic Poster Design 12th – 13th August 2021 The Shed NYC
About
Far Out is a design festival taking place in the Shed, New York City on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of August 2021. We’re bringing together speakers and exhibitions from all over the world that exemplify the very best of psychedelic design. Inspired by the recent passing of design icon Wes Wilson, who pioneered the infamous style, Far Out was created to allow for a celebration of psychedelia, both past and present. Over the weekend, we will have two main exhibitions displaying the works of titans of the psychedelic design world; Wilson and his contemporary Martin Sharp, who founded Oz Magazine in the 1970s. Alongside these exhibits are two outdoor shows, exploring the background of the psychedelic movement, and also its roots in Art Nouveau and Surrealism. We have invited speakers from both the ‘60s psychedelic scene in San Francisco; Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse and Lee Conklin, and their modern counterparts; Scrojo, Android Jones and Mishka Westell to take part in artist conversations. Join us at Far Out for a weekend of conversation, exploration and inspiration.
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Schedule
Main Exhibitions Level 2 Gallery Saturday
All Day
Voice of a Generation: Wes Wilson’s Psychedelic Posters
Sunday
All Day
Capturing a Counter-Culture: A Martin Sharp Retrospective
Outdoor Exhibitions The Plaza Saturday
All Day
The Colour Revolution: 1960s San Francisco in 60 Photographs
Sunday
All Day
Drugs and Visual Culture: Surrealism and Art Nouveau
Artist Conversations The Griffin Theatre Saturday
Sunday
17.00
Android Jones
18.00
Stanley Mouse
19.00
Victor Moscoso
17.00
Lee Conklin
18.00
Scrojo
19.00
Mishka Westell 5
Outdoor Exhibitions
Far Out Festival
Our Outdoor Exhibitions take place outside in the Plaza, and they focus on the background of psychedelic design. 'Drugs in Visual Culture' centers around Art Nouveau and Surrealism, and the influences that mind-altering substances had on the movements. Their use of drugs as a gateway to the subconscious provided huge inspiration for psychedelia. Art Nouveau and its smaller sub-genre, Secessionism, were pivotal influences on Wes Wilson, the psychedelic design icon. 'The Colour Revolution' focuses on what life was like in the city of San Francisco in the 1960s, and sheds light on the environment that birthed the psychedelic movement. This is achieved through a series of sixty photographs, taken by the most influential photographers of the time. Through their lenses, we get a glimpse of a new culture and way of life, where true freedom seemed possible.
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Outdoor Exhibition
Drugs in Visual Culture Art Nouveau Art nouveau was international, eclectic, easily identified, but almost impossible to define. It was decadent and utopian, pure and corrupt. It was a mindset, a mentality, a style that had depth as well as an all-encompassing, self-multiplying and mutating breadth. One of the attributes of the art-nouveau style was its strange extrudedness and overwrought exoticism. Little wonder that the style was re-used in so many album covers and posters in the psychedelic, psychotic 60s. Vitriol and morphine, absinthe and opium inspired art nouveau’s florid forms, as much as nature ever did (Antoni Gaudi was apparently a veritable walking pharmacy for much of the time). By the turn of the 20th century, opium had been refined into stronger and more dangerous formulations like absinthe, as well as medicines containing codeine and morphine. A new painkiller called heroin had just been introduced in 1898. All provided faster and more potent highs. Drugs was readily available at a number of fumeries in all major European cities. A brothel run by Georges Braque’s mistress doubled as a private opium den, behind the Moulin Rouge. Modigliani’s patron was a firm believer in the power of drugs to stimulate the imagination. Opium was a means of escape for some, a love-potion for others, and a also creative tool. Many belived genius could only be liberated by drugs. Psychedelia and morbidity is reflected in art nouveau. Lalique’s brooches which make you think of awful transmutations of the human and the insect worlds; Mucha’s electroplated female heads, von Stuck’s personifications of evil in female form, Munch’s melancholy, haunted by fears of venereal disease, Guimard’s Paris Metro entrances like beguiling gateways to Hell. Art nouveau, looked at through the wrong end of the telescope of modernism, was a fascinating, fabulously excessive aberration. It was a sort of devil’s crucible, giving off poisonous fumes, just like a bowl of vitriol. This exhibtion will take place all day on Sunday 13th in the Plaza.
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Cover for Ver Sacrum, Koloman Moser, 1899
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Drugs in Visual Culture Surrealism The Surrealist art movement stemmed from Dada, a movement in which artists stated their disgust with war and with society in general. These artists showed that European culture had lost meaning to them by creating pieces of “anti-art” or “nonart.” The idea was to go against traditional art and all for which it stood. Surrealism started in Europe in the 1920’s, with its nucleus in Paris. André Breton, known as the ‘Pope of Surrealism’, wrote the Surrealist Manifesto to describe how he wanted to combine “elements of fantasy with elements of the modern world to form a kind of superior reality.” Surrealists believed in the innocent eye, that art was created in the unconscious mind. Most worked with psychology and fantastic visual techniques, basing their art on memories, feelings, and dreams. They often used hypnotism and drugs to venture into the dream world, where they looked for unconscious images that were not available in the conscious world. These images were seen as pure art. In the Surrealist’s point of view, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and other hallucinogenic drugs enhanced their ability to explore the subconscious. Drugs became an escape for young people dissillusioned with society as a whole. It provided a way to express themselves and also bond with 16 other similar minded creatives. Surrealism, just like Psychedelia, is a time capsule of a counter-culture. Surrealism was a lived code of anti-conventional ethics and amoralist morality. Whether alcohol or absinthe, cannabis or heroin, some of humanity’s creative geniuses made their greatest work while under the influence. This exhibtion will take place all day on Sunday 13th in the Plaza. 12
Outdoor Exhibition
Far Out Festival
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Untitled, Franz Roh, 1928-33
Outdoor Exhibition
The Colour Revolution ‘60s San Francisco in 60 Photographs When thinking of the 1960s in San Francisco, many people’s minds flash back to the hippies and the Summer of Love. San Francisco was ground zero for those looking to “tune in, turn on, drop out.” It may have been the most exciting place anywhere during the decade. But there was far more going on that made the 1960s in San Francisco so unforgettable. As much as people rolled in to hear the Grateful Dead jam they were also drawn to the active civil rights movement, anti-war demonstrations and the rise of the black power movement. San Francisco was already a magnet for America’s counterculture; young dreamers, Beatniks, and all those on the hunt for a free and self-determined life. Writers fuelled the renaissance with poetry that quickly took a hold on the bourgeoning music scene. The streets overflowed with free music, drugs and sex, all of which were tolerated, sometimes even celebrated. The era’s biggest bands like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead gave free concerts. San Francisco was a pilgrimage destination for thousands. All the movement’s key thinkers and leaders lived there: poet Allen Ginsberg, musicians Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. It seemed possible to lead an alternative life, one free of convention, and societal obligations. San Fran was a pilgrimage destination for thousands. A new type of world actually seemed possible there; one full of love, freedom and self-autonomy. Robin Williams joked, | “If you can remember the 1960s, you weren’t there.” The Colour Revolution gives us a small glimpse at this decade that may or may not have been the best decade that San Francisco ever had. It was without question the most exciting. This exhibtion will take place all day on Saturday 12th in the Plaza.
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Haight Street, Jim Marshall, 1962
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Main Exhibitions
Far Out Festival
Our Main Exhibitions take place in the Level 2 Gallery, and both focus on the life and works of two psychdelic design legends; Wes Wilson and Martin Sharp. Wes Wilson was the king of psychedelic design, the man who started it all. His poster work for the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco lined the streets of the city in the 1960s. His use of colour, sinuous typography and bold illustration made his style iconic. We have compiled the first retrospective on Wilson's work since he passed away in February 2020. This exhibtion is one of a kind. Martin Sharp continued the legacy of Wilson and other 1960s psychedelic designers. His infamous Oz Magazine was published in both the UK and Australia, and this brought the style to the international stage. Pairing his brilliant eye for design with his quick wit, Sharp created something that was totally unique. We have compiled the largest collection of Oz magazines for this exhibition, as well as his most iconic poster art, in celebration of his life's work.
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Main Exhibition
Voice of A Generation Wes Wilson’s Psychedelic Posters In the United States, concert poster design had a very different approach than that of its Swiss counterparts. Reyner Banham asked, “What’s so good about a world where designers take everything so seriously?” Many saw the Swiss design style as too cold and impersonal, wishing for a lighter and more playful approach. This sparked what some call a ‘colour revolution’, with a decorative approach to design that did not sacrifice it’s objectivity. One man who embraced this new trend was Wes Wilson. A young man working in a San Francisco print shop, Wilson created a style that is synonymous with the peace movement and psychedelic era that characterise 1960s US counterculture. These are characteristic of Wilson’s concert posters, with their striking colour schemes, flowing typography and use of illustration. The posters were wild, unlike anything people had seen before. In context the hippie movement of the 1960s was a retaliation against the government, societal norms and conscription into the Vietnam War. It provided a release from reality for large amounts of people. They were disenchanted with politics and society at large and wished for a reprieve. Wilson’s posters provide a glimpse into the world of counterculture, a time when psychedelic drug use was rampant, and people actively tried to distance themselves from the rest of society. Heisinger remarked that designers “sought a new aesthetic of fresh forms and symbols.” The pioneering work of Wes Wilson continues to influence graphic designers and artists to this day. The Shed’s exhibition on his work is the first of its kind since Wilson passed away in February 2020. This exhibtion will take place all day on Saturday in the Level 2 Gallery.
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BG-38 The Grateful Dead, Wes Wilson, 1966
BG-16 The Mindbenders, Wes Wilson, 1966
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BG-41 The Grateful Dead, Wes Wilson, 1966
BG-61 Buffalo Springfield, Wes Wilson, 1967
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“ What’s so go about design everything s Reyner Banham
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ood ners taking so seriously?�
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Main Exhibition
Capturing a Counter-Culture A Martin Sharp Retrospective Martin Sharp was a brilliant innovator in illustration whose cartoons, collages and designs walked the line between image-making and fine art. There is some debate about the precise issue of Sharp’s Oz magazine in 1967 that represents its conversion to psychedelia. Motifs seen in Sharp’s psychedelic work were already present in his output before he took LSD. He was a social commentator in possession of satirical wit; his line quivers and races with nervous energy yet there is a biting sense of control in even his sketchiest, most improvised looking drawings. Sharp integrates long handwritten monologues and verbal sketches, which become another kind of drawing by virtue of his great fluency as a penman. Writer David Widgery, who contributed to Oz Magazine, dubbed it, “the one thing created by the psychedelic era which might be looked at with interest in 100 years’ time.” One cutting from the magazine stated, “the images have been imprisoned inside me for too long: they want to get out,” it feels like the outpourings of a graphomaniac. Sharp even quotes André Breton’s definition of Surrealism: “Thought’s dictation, free from any control by the reason, independent of any esthetic or moral preoccupation.” Sharp seems never to have been interested in playing by the art world’s rules and his work in the 1960s falls between the spheres of art and design. An exploration of the complexities of his innovative graphic art is long overdue. Anthea Gunn examined his “dual identity” as a graphic artist and visual artist, and, along with this exhibition, it is a sign that proper consideration of his early career might finally happen now. This exhibtion will take place all day on Sunday in the Level 2 Gallery.
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Cream's Disraeli Gears, Martin Sharp, 1967
Oz No.7 (London), Martin Sharp, 1967
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Vincent, Martin Sharp, 1990
Oz No.3 (London), Martin Sharp, 1967
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Break
Icons of Psychedelic Design
Artist Conversations
Poster for Rites of Spring, Victor Moscoso, 1967
Victor Moscoso The king of Sixties psychedelia. Moscoso arrived in San Francisco in 1959, from Brooklyn where his family had emigrated to from Spain at the onset of the Spanish Civil War. At Yale he studied under Joseph Albers. Moscoso is one of the ‘Big Five’ of what is now called the psychedelic art movement, who produced posters for music venues the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. From 1966 to 1969, his works lined the streets, advertising gigs by the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, among others. His work became the trademark graphic depiction for the music and counterculture of a time. His talent is equal to those he advertised. He is a legend. Moscoso will take part in an Artist Conversation on Saturday at 7pm in the Griffin Theatre. 37
Artist Conversations
Poster for Summer of Love, Stanley Mouse, 1987
Stanley Mouse Stanley Mouse is an American artist best known for his Art Nouveau-influenced concert posters created for the Grateful Dead. He is also responsible for creating numerous iconic images for Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, and the Beatles. He grew up in Detroit, where he gained local artistic renown as a spray-painter of cars. In 1965, Mouse travelled to San Francisco and met self-taught artist Alton Kelley who became his collaborator. In 1970, he had a major solo show at the Detroit Institute of Art and since then his posters have been shown around the world, including in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Louvre in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Mouse will take part in an Artist Conversation on Saturday at 6pm in the Griffin Theatre. 38
Icons of Psychedelic Design
Poster for Fillmore West, Lee Conklin, 1968
Lee Conklin Of the many legendary graphic artists to emerge during the late ‘60s, none translated the psychedelic consciousness of the times with more insight or intensity than Lee Conklin, whose prolific poster work for the Fillmore West remains among the most provocative visual interpretations of the Summer of Love and its drug-fueled spirit ever created. Upon reading an article on Wes Wilson, he relocated to San Francisco. Conklin’s goal was to translate hallucinations onto paper, and he frequently worked while coming down from an acid trip. His designs became increasingly surreal, their dazzling colors and bizarre imagery a pointed reflection of his own altered mindset. Conklin will take part in an Artist Conversation on Sunday at 5pm in the Griffin Theatre. 39
“ Tune in. Turn on. Drop out.” Timothy Leary
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The Future of Psychedelia
Artist Conversations
Poster for Umphrey’s McGee, Scrojo, 2015
Scrojo Scrojo is an American poster artist, illustrator and graphic designer, particularly known for his prolific work in the music industry and the surf and skate community. He has illustrated over 2,000 posters for music events. Scrojo has been the resident artist Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California for 30 years, and also regularly worked for such notable venues as The Fillmore in San Francisco, and The Casbah in San Diego. He began his career in the late 1980s, decorating café chalkboards. His efforts led to his designing for 30 San Diego cafes, and surf and skateboard companies based in So-Cal in the ‘90s. His has also worked with Nike, Disney, Fender, Jägermeister, Harley-Davidson and many others. Scrojo will take part in an Artist Conversation on Sunday at 6pm in the Griffin Theatre. 43
Artist Conversations
Poster for Isha, Android Jones, 2017
Andrew ‘Android’ Jones Colorado-born designer and artist Android Jones began studying art at age 8, and attended the Ringling School of Art and Design. Jones founded Massive Black, an art development company based in LA. Described as a “digital painter,” Jones has created an immense body of work. He has become well known for his many layered, psychedelic works and live performances using a custom built digital set up. He participated in the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well Tour and his work has been projected on the Sydney Opera House and the Empire State Building. He is determined to alter the viewer’s perception, pushing the boundaries of the imagination through the use of innovative media forms. Jones will take part in an Artist Conversation on Saturday at 5pm in the Griffin Theatre. 44
The Future of Psychedelia
Poster for Levitation Festival, Mishka Westell, 2018
Mishka Westell Westell is a graphic artist based in Austin, Texas, and in her words, fairly obsessed with music and creating a lot of art for it; be that record covers, screenprints, or merchandise. Westell’s work reflects many elements of psychedelic design, harking back to poster art of the 1960s. Her bold use of colour and sinuous typography pay homage to the great psychedelic artists that came before, but with an added contemporary twist. Incorporating the style not only into record covers, but also brand identities, she is not afraid to push the boundaries of psychedelic design. Westell believes the style need not be left in the Sixties; that it has an important role to play in contemporary graphic design. Westell will take part in an Artist Conversation on Sunday at 7pm in the Griffin Theatre. 45
Further Information
FAQs Where can I get tickets? Exhibition tickets are $10 and include admission to all exhibitions and events on view that day. Tickets are free for children 18 and under, and CUNY students with ID. Order onlinewww.theshed.org By phone(646) 455-3494 (Tuesday – Sunday, 10am to 6pm.) In personTicketing desk in our 30th Street lobby (Sunday – Wednesday, 11am to 6pm.)
How do I get there? The Shed is located at 545 West 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, with entrances via 30th Street and Hudson Yards Public Square. You can take7 train to 34 St – Hudson Yards A, C, E, 1, 2, and 3 trains to 34 St – Penn Station M11, M12 and M34 buses
How can I get in touch? If you have any further questions about the festival, speakers, artworks or venue, feel free to get in touch. Here’s where you can find us@far_out_fest @far_out
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Far Out Festival faroutfestival@gmail.com