psychedelight
Welcome to these pages dedicated to a visual art form that I've been practising since ... 1968. An ephemeral art that passes like clouds or waves, or like the stars and planets.
It gives me great pleasure to share with you all these images, all these colours, all these movements, and to accompany them with soaring, harmonious music; all these scenes should, for a moment, draw you into a fascinating universe, and perhaps make you rediscover the joy of contemplation.
Enjoy your journey into my world!
Jean-Louis Gafner
Presentation
In the 1960s, a new kind of music was sweeping across the radio waves and black and white television. Pop music was taking us by storm. A whole psychedelic culture found its audience with Woodstock, the Fillmore East and West. Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Bob Dylan and many others aspired to a better world where peace and love would be realised.
The big concerts of this era were accompanied by a staging consisting of special effects projected onto a screen at the back of the stage. According to various sources, the practice of lighting concerts began around 1966 in the United States and England. In America, shows were produced mainly with overhead projectors, while in England and Europe, slide projectors were used for the most part.
The "men and women of light", even when they were producing superb moving images, remained in the shadow of the stars they were illuminating. It got so bad that they even went on strike to secure better pay for their art.
Everywhere, young musicians began to produce the same rhythms with amplified sounds. In my home town of Delémont, I accompanied a group of Jura musicians, the legendary Souled Out. I wanted to decorate and colour their concerts. The guitarist's parents owned a projector that they never saw again in its original condition. By experimenting with all sorts of materials and colours, I ended up with ink splashes not just on the screen but dripping all over the machine.
Fans of pop music in the Swiss Jura knew that this was "Gary's psychedelic light show", performing memorable concerts in Delémont and the surrounding area.
Over time it became a technique for which I spent a long time looking for a name, if possible a French name, an art form that I called 'psychedelic art' for 10 years. None of my ideas was sufficiently expressive, so I decided to choose
"psychedelight in relation to psychedelic culture, light or the delight of spectacle. This culture is international and probably supports an English-speaking name.
I'm looking forward to showing you this unprecedented show one evening, in person, preferably accompanied by some good, soaring, celestial music, to give you a unique, magical experience.