Monthly Archives: November 2021

Art Posters, Music posters, Poster art, Rock Posters, Victor Moscoso

Victor Moscoso — Moscoso’s Cosmos: The Universe of Victor Moscoso. A New Exhibition Catalogue.

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As you probably know, Victor Moscoso is one of the Big Five San Francisco poster creators from the mid to late sixties along with Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse and Rick Griffin. Their posters were a massive influence when I came to paint posters for my college at that time. I collected handbills and postcards of the posters for The Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom way back then and I still have forty-one of them (see my previous post to see them all), including seven by Victor Moscoso:

The seven Moscoso handbills in my collection.

I had record covers by Rick Griffin, Mouse and Kelley and Victor Moscoso. My favourite was The Steve Miller Band’s 1968 album Children of the Future, a gatefold cover designed by Moscoso. I lent the cover, along with about thirty others, to an exhibiiton of record cover art at Bildmuseet in Umeå in 1982 and the organisers chose to fix it to the wall with double-sided tape, which tore four one-inch squares off the cover when it was finally taken down. It took seven years to find a replacement mint copy.

Moscoso’s design for the imnner spread of the Children of the Future album cover.

Apart from the handbills, I had a couple of books by three of the Big Five. One of Stanley Mouse’s & Alton Kelley’s art and another with Rick Griffin’s.

Books of Alton Kelley’s & Stanley Mouse’s and Rick Griffin’s art.

So, when I heard that there was an exhibition of Victor Moscoso’s art in León, Spain, that runs from 13th November 2021 until 20th February 2022, called Moscoso Cosmos: The Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso, and that there was a lavish catalogue, I had to get hold of a copy.

The catalogue for the Moscoso Cosmos. the Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso.

This ain’t no puny thing either. It measure 32 x 24 cms (12.6 x 9.4 inches) and runs to 220 pages with 58 full-page prints of posters and artworks. It is a very welcome addition to my art library.

For anyone interested in poster art from the golden age of American psychedelia, there’s a Facebook group called Fillmore Poster Appreciation Society. Loads of beautiful posters are posted there and there’s loads of information about their creators and the various pressings of many. Even posters of British psychedelia poster artists turn up there. Martin Sharp, Hapshash & the Coloured Coat, Michael English and Nigel Weymouth (both separately from Hapshash). I can recommend a visit.

Damien Hirst, Ed Sheeran, Uncategorized

More on Ed Sheeran’s “=” [Equals] Cover.

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My vinyl bundle of this latest Ed Sheeran release arrived this week. I received the limited edition recycled vinyl LP, the standard CD, the limited edition coloured vinyl LP with CD in the deluxe book cover, and the limited edition cassette.

The front cover of the “=” [Equals] LP.

Nowhere could find a credit to the art direction or design. However, Ed Sheeran’s friendship with Damien Hirst is well documented; not least on Sheeran’s Instagram site, and the presence of butterflies is highly suggestive of Hirst’s work.

Damien Hirst redesigning Ed Sheeran’s plaster cast (from Ed Sheeran’s Instagram).

Further research into Ed Sheeran’s discography took me to the artist’s previous album release “Divide”, which has a sort of spin painting on the cover, looking suspiciously like a Damien Hirst work.

The cover of the “Divide” album.

However, it turns out that Damien Hirst allowed his mate to use his studio to play around and make this artwork himself. So the “Divide” cover is not a Damien Hirst design, but an Ed Sheeran product.

Comment from Loughran Gallery on the “Divide” cover art.

Well, that saves me the expense of having to chase a copy of this particular Ed Sheeran album.