The artists are...
Top row (left to right): Salvador Dali (for Jackie Gleason), Peter Blake (for the Beatles), R. Crumb (for Big Brother & the Holding Co.), Andy Warhol (for the Rolling Stones).
2nd row: H.R. Giger (for Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Peter Schmidt (for Brian Eno), Robert Mapplethorpe (for Patti Smith), Frank Frazetta (for Molly Hatchet).
3rd row: Norval Morrisseau (for Bruce Cockburn), Winston Smith (for the Dead Kennedys), Robert Rauschenberg (for Talking Heads), Howard Finster (for R.E.M.).
4th row: Gerhard Richter (for Sonic Youth), Stanley Donwood (for Thom Yorke), Banksy (for Blur), Darren Waterston (for Silversun Pickups).
5 comments:
Please visit: www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com
On a purely technical note, the grid and linkage is impressive. I have no idea how you did that.
Are you accepting recommendations for this project?
Thanks. The grid and linkage is just a matter of gaming some html options. It's pretty basic, but a tedious task.
I welcome any recommendations for this project!
I have a fair amount of information about the artists represented in this post, plus I have a growing list of musical performers who have created their own visual art for LP or CD covers, whether as inspired naifs, as former art students, or as accomplished visual artists in their own right.
But I know that I'm missing a wide range of musical styles and periods. I'm especially surprised to find that I have scant representation of the 1990s and no hip-hop at all on my list.
I'm feeling my way through a lot of gray-area distinctions, too. Is Stanley Donwood a "fine" artist, or "just" a graphic artist? What distinguishes Mapplethorpe from any other celebrity photographer, or the Patti Smith portrait from any other glamour shot of a photogenic performer? Is it fair to include R. Crumb while excluding Stanley Mouse (the graphic artist perhaps best known for his Grateful Dead covers and posters)? Is Crumb a fine artist, a pop artist, a graphic artist, or a comic book illustrator?
It is so cool how when we start a collection, we have to continuously adapt our criteria. Subtle nuances modify our parameters.
I was asking because I live with a woman who owns over 3 thousand LP's and I always love to flip through them. If I have an agenda, say looking for artist covers, it makes the search have meaning, otherwise, I never know where to start.
Consider yourself vested with an agenda! I salute your woman of 3,000 LPs and marvel at her dedication. The last time I lifted a milk-crate packed with vinyl, I said "ditch the turntable, we're converting to CDs." Who knew I was harboring a few rarities that wouldn't cross over to the new medium?
Subtle nuances of the moment set my parameters pretty simply: cover art created by visual artists who are recognized for some body of work (painting, photography, collage) that goes beyond album covers & concert posters. Later on I may address those artists who are more famous within the media/merchandising milieu of commercial art: Stanley Mouse, Hipgnosis, Jim Flora, etc.
Oh, and I also have an interest in musical performers who have done their own cover art: Joni Mitchell, Captain Beefheart, members of Talking Heads, Kurt Cobain, many others. I seem to recall that a lot of '80s acts emerged from art schools, so there must be more archly conceptualized LP covers out there!
I'll appreciate whatever you come up with. This is part of my ongoing investigation into how fine art breaks out of its elite sanctuaries and enters the lives of working-class and middle-class people.
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