Rock On, California! California's Rock Poster Revolution

North Wing, Burra Family Community Room

Rock On, California! California’s Rock Poster Revolution

February 7, 2026 – May 31, 2026

In the mid-1960s, a new kind of graphic art burst onto the streets of California. Created to promote live music but driven by artistic experimentation, rock posters became one of the most distinctive visual expressions of the burgeoning counterculture. Printed cheaply and meant to be temporary, these posters instead helped define an era and permanently reshaped American graphic design.

This exhibition was curated by the first Chapman University class to be taught in the Hilbert Museum: the fall semester 2025 Freshman Foundations lOOA-35.

The earliest works in this exhibition emerged from San Francisco’s psychedelic scene, closely tied to legendary venues such as the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. Artists responded to the music of the time with equally radical imagery: vibrating colors, swirling forms and hand-drawn lettering that often pushes the limits of legibility. Influences ranged from Art Nouveau and Surrealism to comic books and non-Western art traditions.

Pioneers of this movement rejected conventional design rules. Their posters demand time and attention, rewarding viewers who slow down and look closely. The challenge of reading these posters mirrored the era’s fascination with altered perception and expanded consciousness.

Later works reveal further shifts in style, to photography and cleaner typography, yet remain rooted in the expressive freedom of the 1960s. Posters by Randy Tuten, Dave Huckins and Geoff Gans — including designs created as late as 2000 for Bob Dylan — demonstrate the enduring power of the poster as a personal, artist-driven medium.

This exhibition was curated by the first Chapman University class to be taught inside the Hilbert Museum of California Art. The student curators were members of the Fall 2025 Freshman Foundations class, section lOOA-35, a first-year course taught by Mary Platt, director of the Hilbert Museum.

The class met weekly here in the Hilbert’s Burra Family Community Room. At each session, students explored the museum’s galleries, studied its exhibitions and the history of California art, and learned how museums operate behind the scenes — from curatorial research and exhibition planning to registration, marketing, education and public engagement.

As the culminating project for the course, students curated an exhibition of their own choosing from the rich holdings of The Hilbert Collection. They selected a group of California rock posters assembled over many years by museum founder Mark Hilbert, drawn to the posters’ bold imagery, cultural impact and deep ties to California history.

To deepen their understanding, the class met with rock poster expert and professional curator Gordon McClelland, who introduced students to the historical context of the posters, their artists and the music scenes that shaped them.

Each student then selected a single poster for focused study, conducting original research on its artist, imagery, typography, venue and historical moment before writing the exhibition label. The result is a collaboratively curated exhibition that reflects both the revolutionary spirit of California’s rock poster tradition and the fresh perspectives of a new generation encountering museum work from the inside for the very first time.

Tickets/Reservations

The Hilbert Museum recommends FREE online reservations for entry. Guests who arrive without a reservation will be assisted by our staff as available and admitted as space permits. We look forward to seeing you!

Make Reservations