Wes Wilson is regarded as one of the psychedelic pioneers of the ‘60s .
Wilson attended San Francisco State University and while attending the university, Wilson worked at a small printing press. At that small press was where Wilson’s career as a psychedelic poster artist would take off.
Wilson mainly designed layouts for pamphlets and flyers which eventually led him to become an established poster designer. When the Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly concerts, Wilson was asked to design posters for them. Wilson designs for the auditorium were fresh and vibrant and so addictive that other artists decided to replicate his style in their own work.
Wilson was able to create such hypnotic imagery by intertwining his experiences with LSD and his experience as a printer together, Wilson also drew many of his inspirations from the Art Nouveau masters. I find it quite fascinating, today drugs are looked down upon as it is more common for them to be laced with something fatal but decades ago it seems that wasn’t as large as a problem.
As Wilson’s career continued to peak, he began to grow disillusioned by all the financial opportunities and his career as a poster artist. The disillusionment grew to be so overwhelming that he decided to move out of the city to live on a farm in Missouri Ozarks. This does not mean he lost his love for poster art though, just that Wilson lost interest in the competitive, ever growing field of business.
Sadly Wilson passed away last year on January 24, 2020. Wes Wilson and his art will forever be looked back on as someone who was able to define his generation.
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