psychedelight
Welcome to these pages dedicated to a visual art that I practice since … 1968. An ephemeral art that goes by like clouds or waves, or like stars and planets.
I have the great pleasure to share with you all these images, all these colors, all these movements and to accompany them with gliding and harmonious music; all these scenes should for a moment lead you into a fascinating world, to perhaps make you rediscover the happiness of contemplation.
Have a good trip in my universe!
Jean-Louis Gafner
Presentation
In the 1960s, a new music rushed across radios and black and white TVs. Pop music took us to the guts. A psychedelic culture emerged and found growing audience at Woodstock, in the Fillmore East and West and in San Francisco; Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Bob Dylan among many others aspired to a better world where peace and love would be realized.
The great concerts of this era were accompanied by special effects projected on screen at the back of the stage.
According to different sources, the practice of illuminating gigs started around 1966 in the US as well as in England. In America the shows were done mainly with overhead projectors while in England and Europe mostly slide projectors were used. The “light men and women”, even when they produced amazing moving pictures with light, stayed in the shadow of the stars they were illuminating. It went so far that they even went on strike to ensure a better payment of 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. The desire to decorate and colour their concerts took me. The guitarist’s parents owned a projector that they never saw again in its original state. By dint of testing all kinds of materials and colours, finally the ink projections were spread not only on the screen but dripped on the device.
Pop music fans in the Swiss Jura knew that it was the « Gary’s psychedelic light show » that was playing at memorable concerts in and around Delémont.
Over time I honed this art for which I have long sought a name, if possible in French, my mother tongue; for years, I called it « psychedelic art ». None of my ideas being expressive enough, I decided to choose « psychedelight » in relation to the psychedelic culture, the light and the delight of the show. This culture is international, and probably deserves an English name.
I would be delighted to show you this world once for real, live, preferably accompanied by a gliding atmospheric and airy music to allow you to spend a unique magical moment.