CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/25/2015

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia

Featured image is the cover of Oz magazine no. 8 (1968), designed by John Goodchild with Virginia Clive-Smith. Reproduced from the Walker Art Center's exceptional Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia, Oz was the magazine that best represented the psychedelic culture of 1960s London. Like its Australian progenitor, it was notorious for covering "taboo topics like abortion, police harassment, homosexuality, and immigration policy. From its original incarnation, the British Oz carried on with its biting satire and focus on the underground, musical and countercultural scenes. Martin Sharp’s art direction transformed the publication from its gritty black-and-white origins to a technicolor extravagance, utilizing commercial offset lithography with vibrant Day-Glo inks and special fold-out or wraparound posters. The magazine commissioned many talented artists, including photographer Robert Whitaker, designers Hapshash and the Coloured Coat and Barney Bubbles, and illustrator Stewart Mackinnon." Just as the Australian Oz faced obscenity charges, the London edition faced censorship for promoting “homosexuality, lesbianism, sadism, perverted sexual practices and drug taking.”