Psychedelic Legacies: Poster Art from the 1960s to Today

Curated by McKenna Gale

August 8 through September 21, 2023

This exhibition explores the lasting legacies of psychedelic art. Psychedelia emerged outof the cultural turmoil during the mid- to late 1960s in the United States. Amidst the war in Vietnam and the fight for civil rights, groups of hippies, beatniks, and other outsiders found refuge in art and music, as well as the hallucinogenic, psychedelic drugs. Using their psychedelic “trips” and new consciousness to inform their visual choices, artists began to experiment with design, and borrowed from earlier art movements like Art Deco to create colorful and surreal collages that advertised concerts and social gatherings. Over the last fifty years, artists have continued to develop psychedelic style to explore these same themes around music and social issues, demonstrating the enduring appeal of psychedelic art.