60's Psychedelic Show Poster Exhibit in Toledo Ohio

[spzretent]

http://www.toledomuseum.org/exhibitions ... e-rock-era
Just saw it this morning. Well worth it if you are in the vicinity.

[burningwheel]

saw it a few weeks ago, pretty cool, though i was hoping for more Grande Ballroom posters

[spzretent]

saw it a few weeks ago, pretty cool, though i was hoping for more Grande Ballroom posters

You could go to Record Graveyard in Hamtramck and see tons.
It was really cool of this collector to lend his collection for the exhibit. I was hoping for more Stones but it was cool.
The rest of the museum was astonishing.
Quite a permanent collection they have there.
Hopper, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet and that doesn't even scratch the surface. Even the modern local exhibit was really good.
A really pleasant experience.
Plus I went to an incredible beverage shop that had all sorts of beer you cant find here.

[redcloud]

Good point about the lack of Grande Ballroom posters. I have seen several psych poster exhibitions over the years from SF to London and Liverpool. Sadly, Grimshaw and the other Grande Ballroom artists are more often than not sorely represented. The MC5 crow poster, the MC5 panther poster for the Straight Theatre and a Hendrix poster are the usual ones that seem to make it. Much attention is always focused on the Bay Area big shots like Kelly & Mouse, Moscoso, Wilson, Griffin and Tonklin as well as the British artists Hapsash and the Dutch designers The Fool. That is not to say that the usual suspects are not worthy of the praise, of course they are, but a wider spectrum of the genre would be better for the casual viewer and killer for those of us who love, cherish and adore this particular art form.

A few years go I did see a fantastic exhibit at the Olympia in London and it had original litho plates as well as canvas' by Griffin and Kelly. It also divided the exhibit up into the American and European (mainly British) scenes. Even that show only had the above mentioned Detroit area posters.

Nice to see, however, that a smaller, industrial, working class city like Toledo is hosting this show.

On a side note, I would LOVE to see an art exhibit focused on blotter art. I know there have been exhibits of the kind in the past or at least talks of curating them but it is well due a revisit. Time for a brave soul (or just an ex-hippie/acid head now in a high ranking position at an art museum) to organize and curate this show for us fabulous furry freaks.

[spzretent]

Did they give out posters in San Francisco in the 60's like they did/do now? That would explain the numbers of West Coast posters. The Grande gave out postcards not posters. And that would also explain the disparity.
Pretty cool that Toledo has this exhibit. And like I said before, what a beautiful museum.

[redcloud]

Posters, flyers, handbills during the 60's in San Francisco were never printed in particularly large issues nor were they ever expected to be collector items let alone accepted as "high art". Because of this, original issues of Family Dog, Bill Graham etc. shows/posters are relatively rare and some are worth thousands. These artists were just having fun making whacked out posters while high on acid, grass or speed. The challenge was to make the eyes vibrate like they do with a Bridget Riley painting and make the viewer work hard to read the text! Moscoso and Wilson succeeded better than any on this front! Many of the posters one comes across these days are reproductions of the real thing. But then again, that also makes them affordable to the "common man".

I did visit Toledo Art Museum years ago and yes, it is a nice gallery. Cleveland too has a stellar art museum and an amazing collection from India. The mutilated "Thinker" outside the museum is also a sight to behold. A victim of political protesting in 1970 it speaks loudly of the plight of inner city America and those tumoultous times.

Portland hosts a contemporary Rock Poster exhibition every year. It's held at a pub/art gallery here in town. I always go and really enjoy having a couple pints while looking at the latest poster designs from all over. But, they definitely don't make 'em like they used to!