13th Floor Elevators Poster
A doe-eyed Grace Slick gazes from this poster in one of her last pre-Jefferson Airplane, pre-Grace Slick, Superstar days. 13th Floor Elevator, an up and coming acid rock band in 1965, succumbed to drug problems by 1968 and disappeared from the scene. Wilson's lettering style has now become signature and was recognizable in other, contemporary print advertising.
The back of the 1st printing glows under a black light, is printed on a .0070" thick or less stock and measures 13 11/16" x 21". This original printing pre-dates the concert.
The back of the 1967 post-concert 2nd printing does not glow under a black light, is printed on .0075" thick stock and measures 13 11/16" x 21".
The back of the 3rd printing poster is similar to the 2nd in that it does not glow under a black light. On this printing, there is a 1 3/4" red line stretching from the top of the "L" to the top of the second "E" in the word "Elevators". This printing measures 13 11/16" x 20 15/16".
The 4th printing is on glossy cover stock and bears the notation "Wolfgang's Vault" in the lower right hand margin. It was printed in 2014 by the Bill Graham Archives LLC in a 500 copy run and measures 20 3/8" x 30 3/4".
The 5th printing is on 80# matte cover stock and bears the notation "W 2022" in the lower right hand margin. It was printed in 2022 by the Wolfgang's in a 100 copy run and measures 14" x 21".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.