What do you think?
Rate this book
Sex, Rock n Roll & Op. Illusions
The first career retrospective of one of the defining stylists of the 1960s. The 1960s are known as a decade of social and political The Cuban Missile Crisis, the struggle for civil rights, the escalating protests against the Vietnam war, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King, the formation of radical home-grown organizations such as the Weather Underground. It was also a time of cultural revolution, in music (The Beatles, the Stones, the ascendancy of rock 'n' roll), literature (Ken Kesey, Richard Brautigan, Kurt Vonnegut, et al.), journalism (Tom Wolfe's New Journalism and Hunter Thompson's Gonzo journalism), films (Mike Nichols, Bob Rafelson, Sam Peckinpah), and the heady conflation of Fine Art with the Pop Art movement (Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney).
Comics were undergoing their own revolution and no one epitomized underground comix and psychedelia more than Victor Moscoso, whose posters for such bands as The Grateful Dead, Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Steve Miller Blues Band, stand as enduring works of art and instantly recognizable icons of their time. Moscoso (along with fellow artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley and Peter Max) revolutionized the poster aesthetic and defined the visual culture of a generation. R. Crumb invited Moscoso to join the Zap Comix collective in 1968, and Moscoso's work has appeared in every issue from Zap #2 to present. His comix work contrasted with his fellow artists (R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, et al.) by his unique stylization, less confrontational point of view, hallucinatory visual rhythms, and wordless, dreamlike stories.
Sex, Rock 'N' Roll & Optical Illusions is Victor Moscoso's first major, career-spanning retrospective, from his earliest poster work in 1966 to his most recent graphic experimentation. Optical Illusions contains his best posters that advertised bands playing in San Francisco's famous dance ballrooms of the time―the Avalon, the Matrix, and the Fillmoreas well as many of his Zap Comix contributions, and his solo comix work, many in Moscoso's signature color. This wide-ranging career retrospective―Moscoso's famous technique employing "vibrating colors" that he pioneered in his posters is impeccably reproduced with as much fidelity to the original as modern printing can achieve, his black-and-white and full color comix work is collected here for the first time is an intense, vibrant, and revelatory experience. Full-color illustrations throughout
Comics were undergoing their own revolution and no one epitomized underground comix and psychedelia more than Victor Moscoso, whose posters for such bands as The Grateful Dead, Big Brother & The Holding Company and the Steve Miller Blues Band, stand as enduring works of art and instantly recognizable icons of their time. Moscoso (along with fellow artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley and Peter Max) revolutionized the poster aesthetic and defined the visual culture of a generation. R. Crumb invited Moscoso to join the Zap Comix collective in 1968, and Moscoso's work has appeared in every issue from Zap #2 to present. His comix work contrasted with his fellow artists (R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, et al.) by his unique stylization, less confrontational point of view, hallucinatory visual rhythms, and wordless, dreamlike stories.
Sex, Rock 'N' Roll & Optical Illusions is Victor Moscoso's first major, career-spanning retrospective, from his earliest poster work in 1966 to his most recent graphic experimentation. Optical Illusions contains his best posters that advertised bands playing in San Francisco's famous dance ballrooms of the time―the Avalon, the Matrix, and the Fillmoreas well as many of his Zap Comix contributions, and his solo comix work, many in Moscoso's signature color. This wide-ranging career retrospective―Moscoso's famous technique employing "vibrating colors" that he pioneered in his posters is impeccably reproduced with as much fidelity to the original as modern printing can achieve, his black-and-white and full color comix work is collected here for the first time is an intense, vibrant, and revelatory experience. Full-color illustrations throughout
144 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2006
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 16, 2024
Victor Moscoso changed the way we viewed art - a visual representation of the background music of the 60's...a type of zeitgeist synesthesia that grew out of the pulsating neon glare that was washing over the country. I sometimes wish I could take a time travel 'vacation' back to this place; spend a couple days there and then come back here!
February 24, 2020
Kinda ironic how Fantagraphics chose one of Moscoso's weaker illustrations for the cover as representation to this brilliant collection when there were so many other excellent choices.
January 23, 2008
There is not much to read in this book but it's chock full of 144 images to feast your eyes upon. Moscoso includes short descriptive entries about his artwork and comissions but this book is not for you if you want a "literary" experience. During summer '06 I attended a little gem of an exhibition of psych posters at the MFA Boston, which included some of Moscoso's work, curated by Patrick Murphy from the print department. It was fun to see the artwork with xray cardboard glasses provided during his gallery talk and to hear an informed discussion about the time period, artists and works included. A timed lighting installation showed the posters in strobed and black light simulating the way they would have been seen in clubs and some dwellings back in the sixties. A woman attended the talk who had a large collection of political, anti-war posters advertising marches and demonstrations in which Murphy showed great interest. I identified images from Palma Vecchio in one of Moscoso's 'Neon Rose posters and was pleased to get an invitation back another day to see the posters for which there was no room in the exhibit. Thanks to Murphy and the internet I was able to collect a few for myself.
May 6, 2017
like wow.
October 7, 2023
Victor Moscoso is one of the more underrated contributors to the underground comix movement, with his various contributions as a member of the Zap Collective being often overlooked. His surreal, wordless comics were often my favorite pieces in much of the Zap Comix, standing out from the highly transgressive works put out by R. Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, etc. Moscoso's psychedelic cover for Zap Comix #4 remains one of my favorite covers of the whole series.
As an artbook, this was a little underwhelming since it feels like it could have provided more context to Moscoso's contributions both in and outside of the comics medium. Moscoso is undoubtedly a talented cartoonist, capably cultivating an aesthetic that stood out amongst his peers in the underground comix movement, so it would have been nice for this collection to highlight that more. The optical illusion work as shown here was pretty enticing stuff, especially as he used them on posters. A decent collection, but more of a supplemental showcase of his work. I'd recommend checking out his work as seen in Yellow Dog, Jiz Comics, Snatch Comics and of course, Zap Comix. It's in the latter that his psychedelic and surreal homages to classic comic strips like Krazy Kat and Little Nemo in Slumberland and early Disney animation is very apparent.
As an artbook, this was a little underwhelming since it feels like it could have provided more context to Moscoso's contributions both in and outside of the comics medium. Moscoso is undoubtedly a talented cartoonist, capably cultivating an aesthetic that stood out amongst his peers in the underground comix movement, so it would have been nice for this collection to highlight that more. The optical illusion work as shown here was pretty enticing stuff, especially as he used them on posters. A decent collection, but more of a supplemental showcase of his work. I'd recommend checking out his work as seen in Yellow Dog, Jiz Comics, Snatch Comics and of course, Zap Comix. It's in the latter that his psychedelic and surreal homages to classic comic strips like Krazy Kat and Little Nemo in Slumberland and early Disney animation is very apparent.
June 5, 2015
Posters and a few comics and other art from Victor Moscoso, one of the psychedelic artists of the sixties for various bands and social occasions. Really fun and crazy. Op art, pop art, too. Did Zap comix, too, with Crumb, so they are aligned in that way. Crazy, dude. Flip city. But in the surrealism and psychedelia of today, you can see the line back to this guy and folks like him.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews