You’re probably familiar with the art of celebrated underground cartoon artist Robert Crumb, who’s bizarrely bloated representations of society, has always found itself at end of a pitchfork from overly sensitive morality crusaders, through the decades. Sex figured prominently, drawing the ire of the feminists, while accusations of inherent racism would also get an airing from time to time; but Crumb’s work was always meant to be as challenging as it was slap-in-the-face funny.
Of course, Crumb busted out some of his best work in the heady days of the Hippie explosion, hunkering down at its epicentre in San Francisco, rubbing the shoulders and goosing the boobs of Janis Joplin and her Big Brother and the Holding Company. Crumb’s artwork for their ‘Cheap Thrills’ album is rightfully considered a classic, influencing generations of graphic artists over the unravelling decades.
Those days in SF would introduce Crumb to the mind-bending possibilities that LSD could offer an artist willing to throw open the doors of perception, and as he readily admits, acid became a driving influence. So if anybody is likely to appreciate the burgeoning Acid Blotter Art movement, you’d bet your last bottle of patchouli oil that R Crumb would be on board! Especially as some anonymous artist has transplanted Crumb’s famous sketch of Janis Joplin from the Cheap Thrills artwork on to swath of yellow blotter paper, just for shits and giggles.
This piece is one of many (often awful, always rudimentary, insanely priced, but none the less interesting) designs living over at www.blotterart.com . Why not turn on, tune in, drop out and take a look?
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