Album Cover Hall of Fame's Somewhat-Abbreviated Album Cover Art & Artist News Update for April 28, 2017
By Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
Abbreviated version today - tune in Monday for the monthly summary, which will include more previously-unreported items. Thanks for your patience!
1) UPCOMING, RECENTLY-LAUNCHED/CURRENTLY-RUNNING AND JUST-CLOSED SHOW/EXHIBITIONS -
Upcoming items will include news about an Albert Watson photo show in France and more info on the DeYoung Museum "Summer of Love" show (with info on a display dedicated to the craft of litho/screen-printed poster-making).
2) ARTIST INTERVIEWS/PROFILE ARTICLES -
a) As we've just passed the one year anniversary of the unfortunate death of Prince, it was nice to see the folks at CNN change their focus a bit away from the antics in Washington, DC and offer up a 2-minute package (from Stephanie Elam) featuring photographer Allen Beaulieu, the man that brought us the memorable photos found on the covers of several of the Purple One's early hit records (Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy). In this interview, Allen gives us a teensy bit of background on the hows and whys for each cover image but, to me at least, the most-moving part of the interview centered on the fact that he wished that he'd stayed closer to the late musician, not knowing that a big hug received during photography during the 1999 tour would be his last.
The relationships between the photographer and his subject can grow deep -
https://www.cnn.com/videos/entertainment/2017/04/21/prince-photographer-memories-elam-pkg.cnn
b) The recent Record Store Day festivities put a lot of talent on display including, I think you'll agree, a lot of fine work on the packaging, with colored vinyl, limited-edition releases and a ton of related merch showcasing the output of designers, photographers, illustrators and the like in close collaboration with the musician and label clients. However, in this recent Creative Boom article by Katy Cowan, you'll find an added degree of creativity in the RSD-related work of the "masters of paper craft" Nearly Normal as they joined forces with Amsterdam-based record retailer Concerto to produce some quite-special items for an exhibit that will be on display in the store through May 19th called Vinylize!
According to the store's site, "at the invitation of the Amsterdam Shop Around, about 50 artists used their favorite record sleeve as a canvas. The artwork of various artists such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Jimi Hendrix, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and Blondie (to name a few) got a "VINYLIZE makeover", resulting in a completely new and unique Artwork." In the case of the one-off cover created by Nearly Normal's Jaime Kiss, the inspiration was Kraftwerk's 1981 hit Computer World, and not only did the agency produce a cut paper-based cover homage, they also took it further by creating a series of fine art prints for collectors and producing an animated (8-bit style) music video for the song based on that artwork. Learn more about the project and see what true love hath inspired -
3) SALES/AUCTIONS -
Nothing all that interesting to report on this week...
4) NEW PRINT/BOOK/MAGAZINE PUBLISHING -
a) Back in February, I'd reported on the amazing success of a book from the Genesis Publishing house (REVOLVER 50: THE GRAMMY ANNIVERSARY EDITION ) that celebrated artist Klaus Voorman's trend-setting (and Grammy Award-winning) work on the cover for the Revolver LP by The Beatles, released 50 years ago (all of the 500 copies printed of the Deluxe and Collector's editions sold out in 12 days!). Well, with Voorman still quite active and still quite creative, the team has put together a new product - a series of fine art prints/collages, based on an updated Revolver design and individually-embellished by Voorman, making each one unique - and are now taking orders for one of the 250 of these prints that will be made.
According to Voorman, this new print will serve to illustrate how he's reflected on his original design over the years - "I had an idea of doing a collage again so people could get an original in their hands... It's a different version of the cover... right in the middle of creating it." On top of a new pen-and-ink-based print, Voorman will lay on other printed elements - pens, tubes of paint, etc. - that represent the artist's craft of making a collage. "A pair of scissors lying there, a knife or a pencil or a brush, all of these things you actually use when you are at the table working on a piece."
To help you get a look at the artist and his take on this new work, the folks at Genesis have also posted a video - https://vimeo.com/213979087 - while if you want to see more of the works being offered and, if then so inspired, place an order for one for your very own, click on over to the publisher's site - https://www.genesis-publications.com/revolver-50-the-collage-series-by-klaus-voormann/default.htm
5) OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST -
a) There's been a fair amount written about this being the 50th anniversary of the release of what many consider to be the record with the "best" album cover ever made - that being The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album. Whether or not you think it's the ultimate album cover, no one can deny that it has been incredibly inspirational, particularly to those musical acts and album cover artists who've chosen to make parodies (or are they homages?) of the record's cover over the years.
In an effort to show us the wide range of styles and subjects that have been used to create these other works (including several newer ones from the man who lead the effort to create the original - Sir Peter Blake - the staff at the Ultimate Classic Rock site have put together a slide show of over 40 (42, to be exact) of these covers, including ones fairly well-known, such as the cover for We're Only In It For The Money by Frank Zappa & The Mothers (one of my favorite t-shirts), to Eric Idle and The Rutles Sgt. Rutter's Darts Club Band (featuring the classic Rutles tune "Cheese and Onions") to covers by The Muppets, The Simpsons and MAD Magazine. I'm really quite shocked that this isn't a must-do project idea for any self-respecting art school curriculum.
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-sgt-pepper-cover-art-tributes/
Be sure to come back on Monday the 1st for a full-month's worth of album cover artist/art-related goodies.
All text Copyright 2017 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com - All Rights Reserved. All of trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.