When Uppers Become Downers
When Uppers Become Downers is a symposium about psychedelic art and how the cultural climate of the United States during the late 60’s early 70’s influenced the Art Nouveau like style.
Inspiration
This series of posters is called a triptych, which means each poster can stand on its own but still flows seamlessly into the others. A lot was happening during this time, from the Vietnam War to the Civil Rights Movement to the Women's Liberation Movement. I wanted to capture the range of emotions people were experiencing. I drew inspiration from psychedelic art and the Art Nouveau style that influenced it.
The name of the symposium was inspired by the drug culture of the time. I love how I was able to create a double entendre that connected drugs with the range of emotions people were feeling during that period.
When it came to the color palette I loved the psychedelic colors used by Peter Max, Wes Wilson, and Victor Moscoso.
Getting this colorful transparent effect used on the women was a happy accident, I never use to play around with the different channels photos have. Through a lot of trials I mange to create these images that really took in the psychedelic colors.