‘Spaced Out' at the Fauchere

MILFORD — Alastair Gordon spaced out? Not hardly; but rather Alastair Gordon, eminent critic, curator, and author looks at the psychedelic sixties from outside in. As the featured speaker in the Fauchere Literary Series at the Emerson House on June 19, Gordon presented a fascinating talk and slide show of photographs from his latest book, “Spaced Out: Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties,” just published by Rizzoli. Flashed on the screen were photos of Aldous Huxley on Mescaline, Timothy Leary, the “High Priest“ of LSD, architect Ken Isaacs’ innovative “knowledge box,” as well as more familiar photos of unclad people at Woodstock, Batik Wall Hangings, and the explosion of color, sound, and light that created the first modern “happening.” Gordon looks at this psychedelic, mystical, space-out period in America as a cultural historian. He takes an anthropological approach, rather than a judgmental one, to the sixties. His book brings us back into this overlooked, misunderstood time and shows use what it actually has contributed to our world of today. Many of the successes as well as the failures of the sixties have finally made it into the mainstream. Today’s ideas such as sustainable, green architecture, green design, and natural foods and fibers have sprung from the sixties. Gordon’s prose brings the period to life with references to art, architecture, philosophy, mores, style, and space. One of Alastair Gordon’s prime motivations for writing this book was as a possible alternative to the culture of control, which he feels this country has suffered under since 9/11. He says this is his way of looking back and seeing the value of this period as a precursor for future generations’ approach to living on this planet without ruining it. The event was open to the public and wine and a very sophisticated array of hors d’oeuvres - a mini, bite-size, version of the Bar Louis hamburger and a wonton with grilled chicken and feta cheese - were graciously served as people had an opportunity to mingle and talk with the author. The atmosphere was relaxed and informative. And the “oh yeah” accompaniment of the audience was an affirmation of the fact that many of us lived through this period and the wannabes were just as fascinated by it. Alastair Gordon is an interesting man. He did graduate work at Yale in art history and studied there with the architectural historian, Vincent Sculley. Gordon’s casual yellow pants belie his seriousness and erudite grasp of viewing art, culture, and architecture as a seamless unit. The Gordons live in Milford full time. Barbara (DeVries) Gordon, is a fashion designer and former Design Director at Calvin Klein. She is also working on a forthcoming book entitled, “Mirror, Mirror” about mothers and daughters shopping together. Alastair and Barbara enjoy editing each other’s work as well as raising their three children, Iona (11) and twins Kiki and Leila (8). In addition to having written for Newsday, and the New York Times, Alastair Gordon has just been named Contributing Editor for Architecture and Design for “WSJ,” the Wall Street Journal’s new Global Weekend Magazine. That’s quite a coup. It’s also quite a coup for the Fauchere Literary Series to have an author like Alastair Gordon. So now , we can eagerly say to the Fauchere, “More, please.”