As a teenager Rick Griffin's roots were in 1950s Californai surfer culture, with its own unique music and clothes. Griffin went on to study for a short time at CalArts school in Los Angeles. However he took an immediate dislike to simple modern type and good taste and took off, moving in 1965 to San Fransisco where he designed posters for rock 'n' roll bands at the city's legendary Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom.

Griffin was an enthusiastic participant in the new drug culture and had taken part in the writer Ken Kesey's experimental counter culture gatherings. The influence of these experiences is reflected in one his hallmarks of his stytle: the use of wierd imagery, snakes, skulls, insects. bizarre science fiction creatures and Hell's Angel motifs.

The effect of LSD on Griffin's work was in his use of luminous and intense colours that were blanced but chromatically opposite. In the 1960's Griffin reclaimed colour as a valid means of graphic expression. The new pop poster became the perfect expression of the new drug culture.

Griffins work also epitomized the psycedelic rejection of legible typography. The copy on his posters took legibillity to the limit, working on the premise that if the image was exciting enough people would not only take the trouble to decipher the information but also enjoy the process of decoding. From 20th Century Design-Catherine McDermot
http://www.myraltis.co.uk/rickgriffin/

While drugs are mentioned here, I feel that this topic is not right for this forum.

unless the originator can explain why it should stay here, I am moving it to...[thinking]...Printed matter, as it seems [marginally] better than Spurious.


Second thought, make that Media....

[This message has been edited by Metaphysicist (edited 12-09-2002).]

While I do like Rick Griffin's work, this is the wrong forum.

This area is for discussing any technology that creates moving pictures.

Moving to Printed Matter.