Victor Moscoso, “Camel,” (Zap Comix No. 2), [set of 2] (1968), ink on paper, 14 x 11 inches (courtesyAndrew Edlin Gallery)

Victor Moscoso picked up color theories while studying with Josef Albers at YaleUniversity in the late 1950s, and soon turned that abstract harmony into apsychedelic friction. Pairing intense hues in a way that almost shakes your eyes

Strange Days in Victor Moscoso’s1960s and ’70s Psychedelic Drawingsby Allison Meier on March 11, 2015

— a “vibration” of colors — he majorly influenced the aesthetic of the acid-hued1960s and ’70s. In Victor Moscoso: Psychedelic Drawings, 1967–1982, whichopened earlier this month at Andrew Edlin Gallery in Chelsea, you mostly seethings in black and white, with the exhibition revealing the intense preparatorydrawings for his comics, posters, graphic design, and album art.

Victor Moscoso, Color study for cover of Zap Comixno. 4 (1969), watercolor on paper, 14 x 11.25 inches(courtesy Andrew Edlin Gallery) (click to enlarge)

Curated by Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel, the retrospective is the first to look at this rangeof work. It’s a show worth leaning in close to, as Moscoso’s art for the influential Zap Comix, forwhich he was invited to collaborate in 1968 by R. Crumb, reveals a meticulous draftsman in thecrosshatching and stippling that went into his often hundreds of drawings in preparation for acomic. Like much of Zap Comix, known for its band of joyfully scandalous artists like RobertWilliams and S. Clay Wilson, Moscoso’s work had an underground subversion, taking relics ofpop culture such as old-school Mickey Mouse and Little Nemo and morphing them through astrange world of the upside-down logic that fueled M.C. Escher and Dalí. His work for Zap is aflow of transformations, with no dialogue or punchlines — one where the Camel cigarettedromedary disappears into clouds and Mr. Peanut wafts into floating shapes from his top hatand briefly becomes a woman.

Hathaway writes in the accompanying 96-page catalogue:

Zap became a sensation, not only when it was busted and tried for obscenity in1969, but by serving as an inspirational example of the other paths that wereavailable for those who had no desire to work for traditional publishers or galleries.Moscoso’s work — unlike that of his Zap brethren — wasn’t pessimistic; it wasimbued with a sense of wonder and an eager willingness to follow any visualwandering that he could envisage which awarded it with the ability to appeal to amuch wider audience.

Moscoso, now based in California, is shown in the exhibition to have the same skilled hand forall his work, whether it was a Doors concert poster in which he sampled from Thomas Edison’sfilm “Annabelle” and gave the image a border of negative space around hand-drawn lettering,or an especially bizarre album piece for Jerry Garcia, in which tiger-striped and leopard-spotteddinosaurs race like stallions. It would be informative if the pieces were joined by examples ofthe completed work, but the drawings are worth exploring for their meticulous psychedelicnarratives that still feel fresh today.

Victor Moscoso, “Mr. Peanut Metamorphosis” (Zap Comix no. 2) (1968), ink on paper, 12.75 x 10 inches(courtesy Andrew Edlin Gallery)

Victor Moscoso’s ‘LUNA TOON’ (Zap no. 2) (1968), ink on paper (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Victor Moscoso, ‘February’ (1968), ink on paper, 14 x 14 inches (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Victor Moscoso, “Miller Blues Band (Neon Rose no.2)” (1967), set of 5, ink & photostat on paper, 18.5 x13 inches (courtesy Andrew Edlin Gallery)

Victor Moscoso, ‘Run for the Roses’ (Jerry Garcia album cover) (1982), ink & animation cel paint onacetate (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Installation view of ‘Psychedelic Drawings, 1967-1982, with ‘Two Tan Mustard Seed’ (unpublishedposter) (1967) in the foreground. (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Victor Moscoso, ‘Hocus Pocus’ preliminary drawings (1969), ink & colored pencil on paper (photo by theauthor for Hyperallergic)

Victor Moscoso: Psychedelic Drawings, 1967–1982 continues at Andrew Edlin Gallery (13410th Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan) through April 25.