Available for purchase in the gallery.

I accepted the commission to do this poster in April of 1967, close to the time that my rock posters had been featured in the art section of TIME magazine. It was to announce the opening of new offices in Los Angeles for the J. [...]]]> (written February 4, 2006)

Available for purchase in the gallery.

I accepted the commission to do this poster in April of 1967, close to the time that my rock posters had been featured in the art section of TIME magazine. It was to announce the opening of new offices in Los Angeles for the J. Walter Thompson Company (now JWT) which was/is one of the largest advertising and public relations firms in the United States. Perhaps largely because of my fame and notoriety at that time I was granted unprecedented freedom in carrying out the design. The manager of this new office was Mr. Bob (H. R.) Haldeman and it was probably either he or his assistant, Mr. Ron Ziegler, who originally spoke with me on the phone about it. I was given the specific wording for the poster and a picture of Mr. J. Walter Thompson himself, should I see fit to use it in the design.

I was, and I guess one could say still am, a liberal. One who was opposed to the unjust inhumanity of our ongoing war in Viet Nam that was being carried out in the name of “American interests.” An example being the Monsanto Chemical Company, who were making and selling hundreds of thousands of gallons of dioxin laden Agent Orange (the ultra poisonous jungle defoliant) to the Defense Department. My personal feelings at the time about the inherent dangers of industrial advertising were not good. I saw it as a work of persuasion used in the selling of products for the sake of profit. Often spinning deceptions about political and economic matters, which regularly confounded ordinary Americans into buying and/or voting in certain ways which were often not for their better interests. These thoughts were uppermost in my mind as I came up with this poster, giving it a one eye open and one shut look along with the emphasis on the words open up and see.

A few years later while in San Francisco I happened to meet a former employee who had worked at the J. Walter Thompson Company at that time. He told me that Haldeman had the printing plates for this poster framed and hung on the walls of his office. Confused, I asked why but didn’t get an explanation. I later learned that Richard Nixon had been a client of this firm during his successful 1968 campaign for the presidency.

Truly it is a small world. Once elected, President Nixon appointed Haldeman to be his right hand-man in the White House, the Chief of Staff. Mr. Dwight L. Chapin, also employed by the J. Walter Thompson Company, was appointed Special Assistant to President Nixon. Interestingly, Dwight L. Chapin, Ron Ziegler, and Donald Segretti all studied law together at the University of Southern California. Ron Ziegler also found a place in the White House as President Nixon’s Press Secretary.

In the Nixon White House Mr. Chapin was assigned the special responsibility of attending to various acts of political sabotage and espionage against the Democratic Party. Chapin then recruited Donald Segretti as part of an anti-Democrat “dirty tricks” campaign. I believe that journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein later discovered that Segretti had attempted to smear leading politicians such as Democratic Senators George McGovern, Edward Kennedy, Edmund Muskie, and Henry Jackson. These smear tactics included the release of a faked letter on Muskie’s letterhead falsely alleging that Jackson had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old girl. Segretti, the Republican “dirty tricks” operative working for Nixon, was later convicted and sent to prison for involvement in Watergate.

So where are they today? Many have died. However, President Bush’s Executive Assistant is, of course, Karl Christian Rove. It’s my understanding that Karl Rove’s mentor was Donald Segretti. Segretti is now out of prison and could be up to his old tricks again. He is back into politics, in 2000 Segretti surfaced as co-chair of John McCain’s campaign in Orange County, California.

“Dirty tricks” are still being used in politics so as to confound the many and serve the few. As I understand it, documents released to the IRS nineteen months after the 2000 election show that the Bush team spent over a million dollars to fly operatives into Florida to block the vote counting (clogging up the public counting places, shouting, shoving, and being as rowdy as needed to fulfill their mission) and another million to pay for their hotel bills. The effort also relied on a fleet of corporate jets controlled by people like Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and Halliburton, where Vice President Dick Cheney had just served as CEO.

When Karl Rove was publicly honored by President Bush right after his re-election, he smiled toward the blushing Karl and declared that his Executive Assistant was the architect of it all. On February 8, 2005, Karl Rove was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of policy.

I designed the Open Up & See! poster in 1967. Along with the Are We Next? poster, these became part of the 15 minutes of fame accorded me by fate, good luck, and plenty of late nights. Giving me a personal brush with history, if you will, during the wonderful good ole days in the mid-60s out in San Francisco. I still believe in keeping our minds open, so we can better see what’s going on, just as much as I did back in 1967.

Today my eyes tell me that, even though husband Bill did later embarrass her, dear Hillary was correct about there being a “vast right-wing conspiracy!” Today it is surfacing slowly like a dark, secret leviathan. Truly we are primarily being ruled by a stack of unimaginative, narrow-minded Republicans who are mostly aging, adult brats who have proven just how impatiently shortsighted, ignorant, and overly greedy they all are by their actions. Actions which, perhaps to their own detriment, are now beginning to show their true colors to the public in such a way that soon even the blind will see it all. Nothing will change, in fact things will only get much much worse, if Democrats allow the Karl Rove style idiot-bait issues like gay marriage and machine gun rights to preempt the core sensibility of voters. Mainstream Democrats can have all the dynamic social issues on their side now. Democrats can show that necessary health care can be provided more efficiently as a social service industry like the police and fire departments, the army and navy, etc., if they so choose. Surely if some wish to pay for their own private health insurance or have vanity plastic surgeries this should not prevent that. Why should it? Politicians shouldn’t hesitate to reprimand the insurance industry as a huge bumbling bureaucracy which has failed to provide much needed health care services for all Americans. The boom times for the planned dumbing down of Americans about health care is soon to be coming to an end. Democrats can gather all together as one and ‘vote their lights out!’

by Wes Wilson

If you love posters and poster collecting and don’t know about Off The WallTM, the short-lived (but wonderful) tabloid-sized publication created by Wes Wilson, who is arguably the father of the Psychedelic poster, you should. Although it only ran for nine [...]]]> [Note: This article was written by Michael Erlewine. Reprinted with permission. Learn more about OFFtheWALL^TM.]

If you love posters and poster collecting and don’t know about Off The Wall^TM, the short-lived (but wonderful) tabloid-sized publication created by Wes Wilson, who is arguably the father of the Psychedelic poster, you should. Although it only ran for nine issues, Off the Wall^TM was devoted to rock art posters and postering.

I kept hearing Off the Wall^TM referred to with reverence by rock-art fans and wanted to see what this magazine was all about. I managed to track down Wes Wilson, who had a few complete sets of the magazine left. I ordered a set.

What a treat it was to look through them. The list of authors reads like a who’s who of posterdom, with authors like Eric King, Jacaeber Kastor, Walter Medeiros, Ben Edmonds, Dick Wentworth, Paul Getchell, Paul Grushkin, etc., and of course Wes Wilson – all writing about the poster scene.

Here you will find different kinds of articles and essays on collecting posters, handling them and caring for them. Articles on Ben Friedman, Rick Griffin, Bill Graham, Chet Helms, Levon Mosgofian and about venues like the Grande Ballroom, the Seattle scene, Los Angeles and more. Also included are fascinating interviews with artists like Alton Kelley and early poster printers like Frank Westlake.

Wes Wilson not only pioneered the psychedelic poster, but also was the first to create a journal devoted to poster artists and poster collecting. In addition, Wilson has organized and put on some of the most important poster shows. He is kind of a man for all seasons when it comes to posters.

If you are like me and love posters, their art, how to care for them and how they look on the wall, you may find it worthwhile to seek out some of the old issues of Off The Wall^TM or check with Wes Wilson. He may still have a set or two.

West Fest, a celebration of 40 years of peace and love, will be held in San Francisco on October 25. Free and open to all, this one-day event will feature great music and, of course, new poster art to commemorate the historic event.  Hope to see you there!

Wes Wilson will be on hand at this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters. Please come by and say hello!

More info from the TRPS website: The Rock Poster Society (TRPS) is pleased to announce that this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters will be held on Saturday October 10th [...]]]>

Wes Wilson will be on hand at this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters. Please come by and say hello!

More info from the TRPS website: The Rock Poster Society (TRPS) is pleased to announce that this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters will be held on Saturday October 10th from 10:00 to 6:00. Once again we’ll be at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. As always, the show will feature rock poster artists and dealers from around the country, and is the one show not to be missed by poster collectors and all fans of rock art. Those of you who were with us at last year’s show know that this has become a destination event, and this year’s lineup is already shaping up to be one of our best ever.

The Hall of Flowers (AKA the Old County Fair Building) is located near the corner of Ninth and Lincoln. Admission is $10 ($5 for TRPS members with card).

It’s been many years since I published this, my first poster, in 1965. That’s when my friend Richard Fahrner and I would listen to the depressing news about the escalating Viet Nam War while on our way to work at Contact Printing in San Francisco. We didn’t like to hear how our America [...]]]>

It’s been many years since I published this, my first poster, in 1965. That’s when my friend Richard Fahrner and I would listen to the depressing news about the escalating Viet Nam War while on our way to work at Contact Printing in San Francisco. We didn’t like to hear how our America was getting ever deeper into the deadly quagmire of far off Viet Nam’s civil war. One morning while driving to work I suddenly visualized a jarring poster idea – our flag superimposed with a nazi-style swastika. So shocking it was instantly instructive! Richard was enthused too so after some more discussion among other friends as well I then went on to create this intentionally disturbing self published poster.

When I first laid it out and took it to West Coast Lithograph to have it printed; I showed it first to Ivor Powell, the jocular, quick witted English pressman – a man who enjoyed sharing his opinions. When he looked at my design his usual smile faded fast and he said something like this: “Wow, Wes. You’d better add something else, like maybe ‘Are We Next?’ or most people just won’t get it!” My original design contained only the words “Be Aware.” However it didn’t take long for me to realize that Ivor had made a very important point. So after those words were added to the artwork I had several hundred posters printed. I then distributed and sold many of them to appreciative Bay Area folks. Back in 1965 when the official U.S. commitment was to further expand the American military role in the ‘police action’ of South Viet Nam I felt it was an important question – and had to be asked.

I’m glad I did something to significantly express my shock and anguish as an American about such an obviously erroneous and costly ethical ‘mistake’ as was the Viet Nam War. Today however we have been attacked by ultra-cunning and ruthless terrorists and in response to that horribly destructive day our government was forced to suddenly power up our national security agencies like never before. However, the ‘facts’ about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that were so widely believed, have now been wholly discredited for all to see. Because of that mistake we too rapidly invaded Iraq without thoroughly working out both a military plan and the fuller use of the many normal diplomatic protocols which are so useful in less stressful times such as was done prior to the Gulf War. Such haste has also raised constitutional issues about rights here at home. Because more practical protocols as well as United Nations involvement were employed and respected by the first President Bush – we gathered a whole spectrum of willing allies who come to our aid in freeing Kuwait using multinational forces.

Consequently, due in large part to ‘haste makes waste,’ we are now deeply involved in the wasteful horrors of another costly mistake – the current Iraq War. Despite not yet knowing fully just how this all could have happened we are at war inside Iraq. The Iraq situation is different from Viet Nam and we should strive to leave in grace and avoid dropping everything and running.

It seems to me that since we don’t know just how all this difficulty came about – the question “Are We Next?” still applies. And, as it relates to continuing the grand open and fair ideals plus continuing on in the hopes and practices of our Democratic Republic – this notable admonition continues for all Americans as well – “Be Aware!”

Where: Imagery Estate Winery 14335 Highway 12 Glen [...]]]> Please join me on June 6, 2009 at the 13th Annual Gala Benefit for the Kenwood School in Kenwood, CA. The pre-auction reception begins at 4:00 p.m., the main event, “Lights, Camera, Auction!” opens at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for this fundraising event can be purchased at the Kenwood Education Foundation website.

Where:
Imagery Estate Winery
14335 Highway 12
Glen Ellen, CA
[view map]

For more information: 1-707-833-2126

More about the event:
Grandfather of Kenwood School students, Brianna and Dakota Borgfeldt, Wes Wilson has generously donated his support to the Kenwood Education Foundation by designing “Lady Luck Smiles on Kenwood,” for their Lights, Camera, Auction! 2009 poster. The original artwork will be sold at live auction. Collectible signed prints will also be available for sale.

Wes Wilson pioneered the rock concert poster aesthetic of the late 1960s. Best known for designing posters for The Fillmore Theater in San Francisco, he invented a style that is now synonymous with the peace movement and the psychedelic art of the 1960s. Wes continues to work as an artist and his pieces, particularly those bearing his signature, are highly sought after by collectors of poster art. The Denver Art Museum currently offers a temporary exhibit, The Psychedelic Experience: Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area 1965-1971, in which a great many pieces of his work are included.

Take a trip back in time with this once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate an era and remember that, like all “Flower Children,” today’s kids need a well-rounded education if they are to fully blossom. Our children are indeed our future.