Summer of...

…love, lust, music, drugs, radical change, long hair, war, drugs, Warhol, and a whole lot of other stuff -- sensory amplifiers. Summer at the Whitney lasts 6 years. All the usual suspects (Yayoi Kusama, the Stones, the Beatles, Clapton, Hendrix, etc.) plus Lynda Benglis’s “Contraband,” a swirly-colored rug (aka floor piece) of latex. I wanted to remove my boots and roll around on it. Solarized color photos from Paul Himmel, one of the 20the century’s underrecognized photographers. A light show, on video, with music. Fantastic graphics -- posters, posters, and more posters. Buttons -- I liked "Mary Poppins is a junkie","Pray for Sex" and "I am an enemy of the State." A drawing by Jimi, trippy and dragony. An eye-opening video (third floor) on site-specific “inflatables” – the film is as stunning as the ideas. Sheets of acid, matted, framed and under glass. An iconic (and large) portrait of Keef doing a toot – this is instructional, as the new generation will learn that the spoon is mightier than the rolled-up c-note.

Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era, at the Whitney
through Sept. 16
800-944-8639
www.whitney.org

p.s. there are lots of films, too. Recommended: "Tonight Let's All Make Love in London", a loose doc to the sound of "Astronomy Domine".
p.s.s. This show is, alas, BYOD.