This project is significant to Moscoso, because he claims that this poster is the one that clicked for him, where he said he got his mind “off the bench.” This work was done with Family Dog and employed his style of vibrating colors and photocollage to create unique compositions. This particular poster played with foreground/background relationship as the spiral eyeglasses the man wears could be interpreted as glasses or as a hole through his face into the background, as the spirals are positioned to match the background. The poster was meant to advertise for Avalon Ballroom dance concert. The border showcased band names, while the content on the clothing dealt with logistics (what, where, when). This type of poster is a perfect example of Moscoso’s advertising poster works in the mid to late 60s. He employed these colors, sometimes more vibrant and neon, to create dynamic hierarchical composition of color on the poster. With this work specifically, he used 3 colors – a vibrant blue, orange, and black. The image of the man appears as if it had been screenprinted, with stylized edges and careful placement of the black and blue values to create depth and shadows on the man’s face. Like many of his posters, Moscoso mimicked the style of optical illusions, without necessarily employing visual trickery. This poster did play with foreground/background relations, but did not use the spiral pattern for any specific visual effect. Moscoso’s work was ornamental in this way – the colors and patterns he used were simply a means to catch the viewer’s eye and draw them into a composition that was new and exciting. I really enjoy the poster personally. I think there is something playful about vibrating colors, but also something off-putting that makes the posters more intriguing in a way. For advertising purposes, these colors do not make sense as they are not easy to decipher quickly. For Moscoso, advertising was a visual fine art that spread to the masses, so a poster like this needed merely to engage, and viewers would then be more inclined to decipher information from the poster.

Image Credit: http://www.tcj.com/an-interview-with-victor-moscoso/5/