exhibition

Spin: The Art of Record Design

28.Aug.08
Monday – Friday, 10am – 6pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm (closed Bank Holidays)
£ Free

Arts Gallery
University of the Arts London, 65 Davies Street
London W1K 5DA
020 7514 6448
gallery@arts.ac.uk
www.arts.ac.uk, http://www.arts.ac.uk/artsgallery/
Tube Bond Street, Oxford Street, Mayfair / Cork Street

GQ Editor Dylan Jones, The Horrors’ Faris Rotter and designer Peter Saville have selected some of the most iconic cover art of the last four decades to appear in Spin, the forthcoming exhibition at the Arts Gallery. A unique examination of the art of the record cover, Spin will open up an often forgotten side of the music industry, to explore the fascinating relationship between art, design and music.

The selection panel for Spin were: Dylan Jones, author of iPod Therefore I Am: A Personal Journey Through Music; Faris Rotter, who recently created album artwork for The Charlatans; and Peter Saville, who famously designed Factory Records artwork including Joy Division and New Order covers. They chose an eclectic array of albums stretching across musical genres and through four decades. All three judges studied or taught at University of the Arts London’s prestigious Colleges.

Spin will give design fans and music lovers a rare opportunity to see the original artwork which inspired some of the most iconic records covers of our time. On show will be images that were re-interpreted for album covers, through to works specially commissioned to represent an album, alongside the albums themselves.

Many of the works in this exhibition came to be era-defining images which hold intense emotional connections for millions of music fans worldwide, epitomising particular times and moods in a way unique to music culture. Author and journalist Andrew Collins comments “My seven-inches are as important and as evocative as photographs from my youth.”

Speaking on the importance of this exhibition, Faris comments: “Album artwork, especially in the 12" format, can be an amazing thing worth having in its own right. Iconic sleeves can help to sell significant amounts of records - if a band has put effort into the music, why not devote that same meticulousness to every aspect of the package?”

Peter Saville has commented on the historic cultural importance of album cover art: “Between the 50’s and 80’s, before style magazines, MTV and the internet, the record cover was the primary visual communication between young people around the world. The record cover forged a network of influence and inspiration. The record cover was it! It was the art of your generation. True pop art!”

Artwork featured in Spin includes:

Julian Balme’s covers for Madness ‘One Step Beyond’, The Clash ‘Combat Rock’ and Adam and The Ants ‘Kings of The Wild Frontier’ are some of the definitive images of the late seventies and early eighties music scene.

Groove Armada’s ‘If Everybody Looked The Same’ is visually represented by Peter Chadwick’s minimalist image of repetitive tyre tracks in the sand. FORM’s luridly coloured band photo for Everything But The Girl’s album ‘Walking Wounded’ is characteristic of nineties indie culture.

Rut Blees Luxembourg’s honest and beguiling image of a tower block at night for the cover of The Streets ‘Pirate Material’ is a perfect embodiment of artwork reflecting the mood and gritty context of the music.

Some of the most contemporary album artwork in the show includes Girls Aloud’s top selling Biology cover featuring classic noughties pop imagery of the singers smiling out from test tube bottles, alongside Adele’s 2008 album 19 featuring close cropped photographic portraits of the up and coming singer.

In late September the Arts Gallery will host a discussion on the future of album cover art in the digital age. The panel includes author and journalist Andrew Collins as chair, with Peter Saville, album cover expert and author Adrian Shaughnessy and EMI designer Chris Peyton debating this seminal issue.