The Portland Art Museum is currently holding an exhibit entitled Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s. The exhibit showcases the collection of Gary Westford, an artist and educator, who moved to San Francisco in the late ’60s to attend San Francisco University. While there, he attended a multitude of concerts where he collected hundreds of posters, and has now donated 150 of those authentic posters to the museum for the pleasure of the exhibit’s viewers.
The exhibit displays the works of various poster artists and fashion designers, with a specific spotlight on the Big Five psychedelic poster designers of the ’60s: Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse and Wes Wilson.
The exhibition occupies most of the museum’s second floor, welcoming visitors with a mesmerizing feature wall illuminated by brightly-colored, slow-dancing lights. The space itself is designed with an open-concept layout, with each wall painted a differing vivid neon hue — blue, purple, pink and yellow — that all complement the vibrant art and fashion on display.
The exhibit is organized by theme and explores various interesting aspects of the creative process and history behind the rock posters and fashion of the ’60s. Some topics include color and pattern, technique, creative lettering, animal inspiration, depictions of women, appropriation of marginalized cultures, altered states of consciousness and psychedelic Portland.
Bold and eclectic colors are one of the most prominent attributes of the psychedelic aesthetic, mirroring the overwhelming sensory experience of live music and altered consciousness that was so revered during this time period. This trend is easily illustrated within the exhibit, with a rich and vivid color palette keeping your eyes moving endlessly as you walk throughout the displays.
Artists of the ’60s found inspiration within the techniques of Art Nouveau, Victorian engravings and even Western saloon advertisements, blending historical motifs with bold, futuristic visuals throughout their works.
Much like the poster artists, fashion designers of the time period drew on global influences, from Eastern designs such as paisley to Native American inspired fringe, symbolizing an embrace of alternative cultural lifestyles and a rejection of the normative Western materialism.
The usual emphasis on legibility within advertising posters was rejected by the artists, who instead focused on developing their own unique lexical style by blending wildly inventive forms of lettering together to create images that forced viewers to stop and fully take in the poster in order to derive the information it contained on the band it was promoting. This utter renunciation of previous norms of advertising echoes the broader counterculture ethos of the 1960s, where tradition and convention were subverted in favor of free expression and experimentation.
One of the emblems of personal freedom embraced by 1960s artists and free-spirited hippies was that of wild animals. From orangutans, zebras and giraffes to cats and dogs, these untamed creatures were admired for their freedom from the restraints of societal expectations and hierarchical systems like capitalism. For many artists, animals represented an ideal of unrestrained living, embodying the counterculture’s yearning for liberation and stark rejection of conformity.
Another symbol commonly found within the arrayed pieces was the depiction of women, primarily under the guise of the femme fatale, the virgin, the Earth Mother or the love goddess. The exhibit did not shy away from discussing the sexist and misogynistic ideals that shaped these images of women within the art, and shed light on the regressive stereotypes found within some of the posters.
Similarly, one of the themes of the exhibition focused solely on the appropriation of other cultures within the rock posters and fashion of the 1960s, highlighting how artists and designers drew heavily from Eastern Asian, Indigenous and African motifs to create their work. The psychedelic posters often incorporated elements like mandalas, tribal patterns, or Hindu deities, borrowing these symbols for their perceived exoticism and spiritual significance without fully understanding or respecting their cultural origins. This theme invites viewers to reflect on the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation, as well as the broader impact of such practices on marginalized communities whose traditions were commodified for countercultural expression.
Altered states of consciousness played a pivotal role in shaping the aesthetic and cultural innovations of the 1960s, particularly within the countercultural movement that is at the heart of the exhibit. These altered states were achieved through the use of drugs including LSD, marijuana, DMT, psychedelic mushrooms, peyote or mescaline. Artists strove to communicate this perceived altered reality through their works, using vibrant colors, swirling patterns, and distorted typography to simulate a sense of motion, fluidity and heightened sensory perception. Wes Wilson was known for his depiction of distorted human heads, emulating the mind-bending attributes of these drugs.
Whether you are an art enthusiast, a music history buff or simply curious about the 1960s counterculture movement, this exhibit offers something for everyone. From its captivating visual displays to its thoughtful critique of themes like cultural appropriation and sexism, the exhibition is both a celebration of an iconic revolutionary era within American culture as well as an invitation to reflect on its complexities and contradictions.
The exhibit will run through March 30, 2025. The Portland Art Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays until 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online or at the museum. College students qualify for significantly discounted yearly memberships to the museum at $25 yearly, and Multnomah County Library card holders can reserve 2 free tickets through the Discovery Pass program.
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