In 1967, the art of poster-making had its own avant-garde, many of whom were connected with legendary music promoter Bill Graham in San Francisco. Maclean and other artists in this group experimented with brightly contrasting colors and optical illusions to evoke the dazzling visual effects of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD. The ornate and nearly illegible typography used on many psychedelic posters, as well as the sinuous and swirling lines, were a visual code legible to those already indoctrinated to psychedelics, but also drew from earlier design movements of the turn of the century, among them Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession.
Gallery label from From the Collection: 1960-69, 2016.
