Northern Quarter exhibition celebrates music icons of the psychedelic sixties

They say that if you can remember the 60s you probably weren’t there.

In case you were there and can’t remember them, 1967 was the Summer of Love, the hippy movement emerged, and music became increasingly psychedelic, often involving the use of drugs like LSD.

Now an exhibition featuring some of the most celebrated musicians of the golden age of psychedelia is coming to The Northern Quarter.

It features twelve portraits by local artist Dustan Carter of some of the biggest music icons from the sixties – Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Syd Barrett, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Arthur Lee, Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick, Steve Hillage, Mama Cass, Donovan and Roky Erickson, together with four new psychedelic-inspired collages.

The idea for the exhibition came after Dunstan finished a series of Manchester Icons portraits early last year.

“I’m a huge fan of acts like Love, The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, and psychedelic music has been back on the rise over the past few years,” says Dunstan.

“With my Psych Icons collection I wanted to create a series of portraits that shone a light on some of the main icons of the golden age of psychedelia, and let their inspiration seep into the portraits themselves and take them somewhere a bit different from just normal everyday portraits.

“There’s been the success of Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, and lots of great new British psych bands like Temples and Hookworms and brilliant Aussie bands like Tame Impala and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard too. Maybe in these dark times we enjoy adding a splash of psychedelic colour and music to the world at large.”

Dunstan has been specialising in portraiture for the past few years. His hand-doodled illustrations of Manchester figures were highly acclaimed. His work has been sold across Manchester from Debenhams and Afflecks to Nexus Art Café and Hatch.

His style involves mixing traditional illustration techniques with collage, and layering card and paper onto mountboard.

“This approach lent itself perfectly to the colourful and experimental world of psychedelia and this new collection feels like the best work I’ve done to date,” says Dunstan.

The exhibition launches on 10 May at the excellent Foundation Coffee on Lever Street at 6pm and features DJs, live music, a colourful array of hipsters and a well stocked bar and cafe. It’s free entry and runs till around 10pm.

Original portraits and collages will be available to buy on the night along with unframed and framed limited edition prints.

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