Psychedelic Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s San Antonio Museum of Art

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Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s

March xiii - Baronial 1, 2010

psy·che·del·ic - adjective

1. of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception sometimes accompanied past severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.

2. of, pertaining to, or noting any of various drugs producing this country, as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin.

3. resembling, feature of, or reproducing images, sounds, or the like, experienced while in such a state:psychedelic painting.

I north 1956, Dr. Humphry Osmond coined the term 'psychedelic' to refer to hallucinatory experiences produced by the use of drugs during psychotherapeutic practices. Soon, Timothy Leary and the counter-civilization'due south hippie movement in America advocated "turning on, tuning in, and dropping out" as a means of intentionally seeking an intensified, sensory experience.

Additionally, the 1960s saw the appearance of color television, fluorescent paints, and the Op Fine art movement'southward experimentation with optical mixing to achieve dazzling colour furnishings; all of which introduced a new visual language of extreme color and kaleidoscopic space into contemporary culture. By the end of the decade, ane did not have to consume drugs to see a "trip"; the psychedelic aesthetic was experienced with lite shows, lava lamps, posters and buttons, record album covers, fashion, and stage design for Idiot box shows such as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, The Ed Sullivan Testify, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Although psychedelic culture began to decline past the mid-1970s, i of its legacies is an aesthetic sensibility that has continued to evolve over the years and, more recently, has gained favor in growing numbers among contemporary artists.

For the offset fourth dimension in history, the San Antonio Museum of Art explores and investigates the origins and development of a "psychedelic sensibility" in contemporary art of the past forty years: from Op Fine art of the early 1960s to the abstract and visionary representations of the present day.

It should be stressed that this exhibition is about the influence of psychedelic civilisation on the art earth -- not necessarily the influence of drugs. Little of the content addresses drug bug; rather, in against a variety of bug, the artists exhibited employ a psychedelic aesthetic sensibility -- extremes of color and light that did not exist to any extent in culture or in gimmicky art prior to the birth of the psychedelic era.

A 140 page, fully illustrated, total-color. hardcover volume, co-published with the MIT Press, accompanies Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s. In the lead essay, exhibition organizer David Southward. Rubin, The Dark-brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, presents a cohesive narrative, tying together the relationships among the artists and analyzing their art in terms of content, culture, and history.

Rubin has previously addressed a number of topics in this manner through catalogs for thematic exhibitions he has organized, amidst them Cruciformed: Images of the Cross since 1980, Former Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, It's Merely Rock and Roll: Rock and Roll Currents in Gimmicky Art, and Birdspace: A Post-Audubon Artists Aviary.

Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s features artists Albert Alvarez, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Jeremy Blake, Richie Budd, George Cisneros, James Cobb, Jack Goldstein, Alex Gray, Al Held, Mark Hogensen, Constance Lowe, Erik Parker, Lari Pittman, Ray Rapp, Deborah Remington, Susie Rosmarin, Alex Rubio, Sterling Cherry-red, Frank Stella, Philip Taaffe, Fred Tomaselli, Victor Vasarely, Michael Velliquette, and Robert Williams.

David S. Rubin talked with Texas Public Radio'due south Ernie Villarreal virtually his showroom, Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s, the influence of psychedelic art, and contemporary artists. Delight see http://www.tpr.org/news/2010/03/news1003112.html

Please run into the SAMA Web site for a list of related special events.

(above: Albert Alvarez, Karma and Death Pervade My Consciousness, 2006, oil on panel, 48 10 48 inches, Drove of Jon Jay Mendlovitz and Teresa Diaz, San Antonio, TX)

(above: Mark Hogensen, Loud Acreage, 1995, acrylic on sheet, 47 3/4 x 53 one/ii inches, San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Walter F. Dark-brown, 96.21)

(above: Constance Lowe, Orange Alarm Afterglow, 2008, oil and enamel on panel, 25 x 29 inches, Collection of CE Grouping, San Antonio, TX)

(to a higher place: Alex Rubio, Burro Country, 1997, acrylic on paper, 30 x 40 inches, Collection of Henry R. Muñoz Three, San Antonio, TX)

Editor's note: Resource Library readers may besides savour further study of:

• Posters
• Representational Art (other): 18-19th Century, xix-20th Century, 20-21st Century

Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source past visiting the sub-index page for the San Antonio Museum of Art in Resource Library

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