Here we have a genuine artifact of the American id — an original 1972 “If It Feels Good DO IT!” poster from Gemini Rising, Inc., the infamous New York counterculture publisher that practically invented the commercial protest poster.
If you know Gemini Rising, you know the story: these were the people bold enough (or reckless enough, depending on your perspective) to parody the Coca-Cola trademark with “Enjoy Cocaine” and end up in federal court over it in 1972, the same year they printed this. Their “Make Love, Not War” poster now sits in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum. They weren’t making wall decor. They were making statements. This poster is that same energy, distilled to its absolute essence: five words and a challenge. No image. Just conviction.
“if it feels good / DO IT!” stacked in that classic early-70s display serif, small and insinuating at the top, then erupting into massive red letterforms at the bottom. Sky blue ground, fire-engine red type. The layout practically shouts. It’s a visual argument in two typefaces.
This was the motto of an era that had stopped asking permission. Post-68, post-Summer of Love, post-everything, the counterculture had shed its flowers and gone blunt. The hippie shrug had become an imperative. Whatever “it” was, and the poster is deliberately agnostic on that point, the message was: stop hesitating.
Printed as catalog number LP250, copyright 1972, Gemini Rising, Inc., 7 W. 57th St., New York.
The vintage poster measures 36” x 24”. The Original offset lithograph was pressed on heavyweight stock. The poster shows light rolling and fold creasing consistent with age and storage. There is discoloration along the horizontal top. This is a 50-year-old poster, not a reproduction. Colors remain bold and punchy. Please see all pics as they are part of the description.
I ship USPS to street addresses in the continental USA only. Free shipping on the counterculture poster.
Gemini Rising posters turn up in serious collections now. The ones in the Whitney are getting framed and studied. The ones in your grandmother’s attic are getting sold. This one is somewhere in the middle.
