Jefferson Airplane Poster
Drugs provided a lens through which Wes Wilson re-interpreted the ordinary, and he put the psychedelic experience on paper in BG048. His central face dissolves and distorts in a rush of procreative force, and the Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Dino Valente are along for the ride. Valente, composer of the peace anthem "Get Together", had an uneven career marred by drug dependency and busts and spent more time in jail than out in the late sixties.
The 1st printing A (see BG048) displays green figures, light gray lettering, and a red background. It was printed prior to the concert and measures 13 9/16" x 23 3/16".
The pre-concert 1st printing B has white figures, light gray lettering, a red background and measures 13 9/16" x 23 3/16".
The 1st printing C has green figures, dark blue lettering, a red background and measures 13 11/16" x 23 1/4". It was printed before the concert.
The 1st printing D (see BG048-D) has white figures, dark blue lettering, and a red background. It was printed before the concert and measures 13 11/16" x 23 1/4".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.