Abstract design of overlapping black spirals on a white background.
©UUU. 28 ST. MARKS PL... NYC 10003
This novelty button features a spiral optical illusion design. The visual distortion is caused by combining a regular line pattern (the circles) with misaligned parts (the black and white dashes), so the spiral appears to be in motion. Some artists who have worked with optical illusions include M. C. Escher, Bridget Riley, Salvador Dalí, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Marcel Duchamp, Oscar Reutersvärd, Victor Vasarely and Charles Allan Gilbert.
The button was produced by the Underground Uplift Unlimited, a slogan button and poster head shop ran by Randolfe Wicker on St. Marks Place in East Village between 1967 and 1971. In an interview with GayToday.com, Wicker states that he closed the shop after becoming disillusioned with pot and psychedelic culture.