(AAPNW-NY) – The hallucinogenic effects of certain therapeutic drugs was initially labeled “psychedelic” in 1956 by British psychiatrist Dr. Timothy Leary, but it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that the term saw widespread use when Leary and other counter-culture figures encouraged people to “turn on, tune in and drop out,” often with the help of mind-altering substances.
Opening Sunday, October 17 at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York, “Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art Since the 1960s” showcases 25 works, including a two room-size video installation as well as a number of large-scale paintings by such modern masters, Frank Stella, Deborah Remington, Robert Williams, Fred Tomaselli, Victor Vasarely and Ray Rapp.
This major touring exhibition organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art, examines four decades of psychedelic art, from Op Art in the 1960s to the current explosion of dazzling abstraction. Their controversial beginnings grew a new aesthetic marked by intense color, vivid imagery and kaleidoscopic space. No longer synonymous with drug use, “psychedelic art” had by the late 1960s become mainstream, a part of pop culture from album covers to posters to fashion design to stage sets. Even today, 40 years after its acclaim, its visionary use of color and form continues to resonate with artists.
On view through January 2, 2011, for more information see www.mag.rochester.edu.