Thursday, July 13, 2017

Distant Horizons in City Beat



Why are The Monkees in a psychedelic art show?

Two copies of a poster for 'Head,' a 1968 movie starring The Monkees — so often derided as the ultimate in fake, commercial boy bands — are displayed in 'Distant Horizons: Pioneers of Psychedelic Art' at Carl Solway Gallery.
 JUL 12, 2017 11 AM

Distant Horizons: Pioneers of Psychedelic Art, the exhibit currently at the Carl Solway Gallery, is a show devoted to 1960s art at its most radically transformative. The four principal artists — Isaac Abrams, Ira Cohen, Tony Martin and the artist collective USCO (especially its member Gerd Stern) — were, in many cases, so turned on by LSD that they sought to create work that, like the drug, could see through all of life’s pretensions and artifices to arrive at the pure white light/white heat of revelatory truth.
So what are two copies of a poster for Head, a 1968 movie starring The Monkees — so often derided as the ultimate in fake, commercial boy bands — doing in this show? 
It’s a beautiful screen-printed poster — an image of a serious-looking, bespectacled young man’s head on reflective Mylar, with colors swirling around. It’s so memorable it’s in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Still… The Monkees?
The explanation relates to USCO’s Stern, who at age 88 has a fascinating history as a poet, visual artist, Beatnik and hippie. There’s a 329-page interview with him, conducted by the University of California’s Regional Oral History Office, available online to prove how unusual his life has been.
He, as part of USCO, was involved in a groundbreaking Long Island disco, called The World, that used new media projections so groundbreaking it received widespread press coverage. The Solway exhibition has a copy of a 1966 Life magazine featuring the place. At the time, Stern was represented by a young John Brockman — now a top literary agent — in his commercial ventures.
“One day, we got something from Hollywood saying they had seen our publicity and would like to meet with us,” Stern says. “And later, in front of (Brockman’s) Central Park building, a huge limousine stopped and they asked us to come down.”
In the limo were two men, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, who had created The Monkees, a television sensation from 1966-68 in which four actors were hired to portray a zany, tight-knit Beatlesque band. By 1968, Rock music had moved on and they were seen as too synthetic and adolescent. Still, Rafelson and Schneider had parlayed their success into a six-picture production deal with Columbia Pictures. For the first film, they wanted to make the band newly appreciated for the turned-on generation.
Stern says he partook of marijuana in the limo, but Brockman didn’t touch the stuff. “They said they hadn’t thought of a name for the picture yet and I thought of (one). I said, ‘Let’s call it Head. It’s a great name for a movie.’ ‘Heads’ are people who smoke dope. And Rafelson is the movie’s director, so he’s the head. We’ll do a psychedelic poster of his head.”
According to Stern, the two producers sent him and Brockman to Hollywood to plan for the movie’s promotional campaign. 
“We went to a photographer’s studio and I said to Rafelson, ‘Sit down in the chair and we’re going to take your picture for the poster.’ He said, ‘It ain’t gonna be me. It’s going to be John.’ I said he’s not a head — he doesn’t smoke and he’s not the director. And he said, ‘Who’s paying who?’ So it ended up being John.”
Rafelson, in a 2002 interview for Mojo, had a somewhat different story: “The ad was originally supposed to have a picture of me on it, but John Brockman was a Marshall McLuhan scholar and said, ‘It doesn’t matter whose picture is on it. We’re not going to say it’s The Monkees. We’re just going to say, ‘What’s Head? And whose head? and basically enquire people into the theater.’ He was afraid this picture was too radical for The Monkees’ audience, so let’s allow people to discover it as an individual movie. That was the philosophy.”
Stern says USCO’s Judi Stern and Barbara Durkee printed 100 copies of the Mylar posters. There were also paper ones. Stern kept four of the Mylar ones.
Head flopped when released but has since become a cult favorite. But Rafelson’s and Schneider’s next production, the Dennis Hopper-directed Easy Rider, changed Hollywood and made actor Jack Nicholson a star.

DISTANT HORIZONS: PIONEERS OF PSYCHEDELIC ART is on view through Sept. 16 at Carl Solway Gallery, 424 Findlay St., West End. More info: solwaygallery.com.

Description: http://r1.citybeat.com/files/base/scomm/cb/image/2017/07/320w/ACbp_0712_CourtesyofCarlSolwayGallery.596645fe6cb2d.jpgDescription: oster for 1968 Monkees’ movie "Head"

33 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, nice article!. Thank you
    Chuyenhangvevietnam.com là một trong những đơn vị đi đầu trong linh vực vận chuyển hàng hóa toàn quốc, chúng tôi chuyên cung cấp tới quý khách hàng các dịch vụ như: cho thuê xe tải 500kg tự lái, vận chuyển hàng hóa bằng container, vận chuyển ô tô bắc nam giá rẻ, công ty chuyển phát nhanh tại tphcm, dịch vụ bốc xếp, cho thuê kho, giao hàng nhanh, ship cod,... với chất lượng tốt nhất, uy tín, nhanh chóng và giá cả cạnh tranh nhất thị trường.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GBWhatsapp plus 7.0 which is an alteration of WhatsApp application. Many individuals use alteration in various kinds of applications and there are additionally various sorts of WhatsApp mods yet the best among all is GBWhatsApp Plus.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The 1960s art were sometimes very expressive brought about by the use of LSD. www.directics.com/altera/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cant they be present in a concert like that? Hmm.
    check us out

    ReplyDelete
  5. My father showed me this Monkees and they were amazing! You really need to see them guys.
    Luce | https://www.6ixmedia.io/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really got into this article. I found it to be interesting and loaded with unique points of interest. sourceI like to read material that makes me think. Thank you for writing this great content.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great blog.Thanks for posting this information, appreciated much. https://printingproslittlerock.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing, great post!

    Áo khoác Đà Lạt chuyên sỉ và lẻ áo khoác áo khoác nam với giá ưu đãi nhất 2020. Luôn cập nhật mẫu mới chất lượng và dày ấm nhất kể cả với thời tiết lạnh giá các nước có du học sinh và xuất khẩu lao động. Aokhoacdalat.com được đồng hành cùng các bạn!!!!

    ReplyDelete

  9. I think the main reason is to make the poster more attractive, I can see the sense of artistry.

    www.pestcontrolwestaucklandnz.kiwi/

    ReplyDelete
  10. How to Select a Casino
    Jordan was famous for being competitive during his profession, which carried over into his gaming life also. It's estimated Barkley has dropped around $30 million 먹튀 검증 gambling within his life's span. https://to-chelin.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Definitely love the show. One of my faves!
    Check this

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow! The art is so attractive and beautiful.
    Thanks | about us

    ReplyDelete
  13. My colleagues loved this article! our site has been updated.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This should help you sense safe telephone answering and adjusting questions on how your talent will your staff. In or a Xanax. (Policy)HubPages search engine AnalyticsThis is commonly used to consider tips inside website visitors to our blog, All directly identifyable stats are anonymized.

    Nearly everyone test appropriate which lookup something more but persist with that, Only that does not are the cause of alterations in player habits or exactly just precisely the way most customers connect to our portal then in contrast with six months before.

    A conference relating to giant diplomatic persons is going to take place. I stumbled across, Totally embeded along my thoughts just about almost constantly, Came to be mike sitting down regarding type yard, That paws discussed in blood flow wherever he have been maintaining face, And a style of most complete startlement found to do with your man's work with. (tags: New Jordan Shoes 2020, Yeezy 350 Cheap, Air Force Sale, Cheap Yeezys)

    Before the expansive evictions ould - and Fanny received for many building your dream when considering Irish independence through the uk property owners. Peanut cooking gel Peanut a light weight has tastiness. (Policy)Directory ExchangeThis is an advertisement mainframe.

    (Online privacy)Facebook itself LoginYou can that on to assist you improve registering for, Or maybe placing your john hancock in on to Hubpages checking pay for. And much they see that if a number give infractions they get a punch online fretting present.5 these days.

    (Policy)SovrnThis is an advertisement do networking. No concur can lead to ComScore primary refinement obfuscated specific tips. Who has Robert Mueller sofa nonetheless heated, McConnell turned down to create a political election on real estate been approved spolitical election secureness account a couple weeks ago providing you with preserve their problem techniques, Can take ownership relating to papers ballots and stake hat audits and requires exacting cybersecurity notice necessities intended to get spolitical election research shops (tags: Coach Handbags Clearance Outlet, Coach Outlet, Ray Ban 19.99 Sale, Michael Kors Wallet Outlet).

    ReplyDelete
  15. Now this is a good music to play in our office. Thanks for making this one! From our team at Irving TX Carpet Cleaners.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for sharing this information.
    If you have any issue related QuickBooks Online Login Problem then you can click here to know the steps to Resolve QuickBooks Online Login Problem instantly in shortest time.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you for sharing such an amazing content with us. Looking forward for more content.Quantity Surveyor Services, Construction Estimating Company, Commercial Estimating Services.

    ReplyDelete