By 1967, the San Francisco psychedelic scene was little more than a year old, but the brightly colored concert posters designed for shows at the Avalon and the Fillmore were already popular collectors’ items among members of the counterculture and young residents of the Bay Area. And five young graphic artists - Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin - had already established themselves as the dominant masters of the psychedelic poster in San Francisco.
Like many graphic artists, the five poster designers sought to be taken seriously as artists and on July 17, 1967 they got their wish, when an exhibition of the "Big Five" poster artists opened at the Charles Moore Gallery on Sutter Street in San Francisco. The exhibition was titled the "Joint Show" and each of the artists designed their own poster for the event. This collage by Alton Kelley features Pigpen set in an industrial or steampunk background. Country Joe and the Fish played at the event but are not listed on the poster.
There are several printings of this poster and this is the first printing and rarer of the three, printed on foil.