Posted May 11, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
While my monthly newsletter allows me to provide you with a reasonably-up-to-date recap of album cover artist/art-related news, often times there are items of interest that come and go rather quickly and don’t comport with the limitations of a once-a-month schedule, so I find myself having to do the occasional special release, of which this is an example. This month, there are several exhibitions and sales that start and end in May, so please continue scrolling down the page to see all of the pertinent details laid out right before your very eyes –
A) Friend of ACHOF Dr. Richard Forrest’s Banksy album art collection is a featured part of a new show on the mysterious artist opening later this month in NYC. “Banksy – Building Castles in the Sky (An unauthorized exhibition)” will open May 28th at the former International Center of Photography Museum. 250 Bowery, New York (running thru December 31,2022).
Produced by MetaMorfosi NY and curated by Stefano Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani, the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, prints and over 30 record and CD covers from Richard’s amazing collection (which we’ve toured through a bit previously – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/achof-featured-fan-portfolio-a-tour-through-collector-richard-forrests-favorite-album-covers/ ).
This is a continuation of the travelling show sponsored by the Italian Fondazione Metamorfosi and been shown in prestigious exhibition halls in several Italian cities including Rome, Genoa, Ferrara and Parma, and also in the Swiss cities of Basel and Lugarno. I’m hoping to learn more about the show from its curators soon but, until then, I’d invite you to visit the site to learn more and grab some tickets to what looks to be a truly-impressive, multi-media exhibition of one of the world’s most-talked-about artists – https://www.newyorkbanksy.com/
B) A recent H.R. Giger show at NYC’s Lomex Gallery drew record crowds and gave fans of the late Swiss artist an amazing chance to see examples of his work – drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures – in a beautiful setting. After closing their own show, the gallery then brought a selection of Giger’s works to the Independent Fair show that ran from May 5th – 8th and now continues online until month’s end, reachable at the following link – https://ovr.independenthq.com/viewing-room/lomex2 (registration required).
I took a virtual tour and was pleased to see examples of the phantasmagoric album art Giger created for ELP, Blondie and Danzig, among others, alongside some of the works that have helped define the sci-fi movie genre’s “look and feel” ever since – i.e., his characters for Alien (for which Giger won an Academy Award for “Best Achievement for Visual Effects” in 1980. Giger’s work in the film business continued to include designs for Poltergeist II, Alien 3 and Species.
Read a brief interview with the curator of the gallery about this display at https://news.artnet.com/market/independent-lomex-hr-giger-2110039
C) I GOT MINE…DON’T FORGET TO ORDER YOURS – Late last year, I told you about author Ramon Oscuro Martos – the music historian who has so far given us several great books (in the …And Justice For Art series) about the mind-bending array of artwork found on the sleeves of some of metal music’s best-known recordings spent his COVID-induced “down time” productively, putting together a new book that this time focuses on the art/imagery you’ll see on the covers of some of the genre’s most-loved LIVE albums. As he’d done in the past, he asked fans/supporters for help to bring this new tome to market via pre-order commitments.
Well, the project was a success and, just this week, I rec’d my copy of the book and it is just beautiful.
As Ramon describes the project, “…AND JUSTICE FOR ART… LIVE! Stories About Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Live Album Covers reveals the stories behind hundreds of cover artworks for live Heavy Metal/Hard Rock albums. It contains more than 100 chapters, more than 500 graphics (including original artworks, sketches, behind-the-scenes images, etc.) and exclusive comments by approximately 100 bands and visual artists.” The foreword was written by Voivod’s drummer and visual artist, Michel ‘Away’ Langevin. The cover artwork was designed by the super-talented, Costin Chioreanu, who also created the artworks seen on the last two “…AND JUSTICE FOR ART” books.
This is the fourth and final book in the series, and after filling all of his pre-orders, he got less than 150 copies left for retail purchase,
The book costs $67 and worldwide shipping is included in this price. You can use code BLMWBB to get 5% off. Each copy comes signed by the author and is shipped with a free mini-poster, a CD, a bookmark and a music streaming postcard. You can see an unpacking video recently posted by one of the buyers/readers of the book at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZBeVssxqrA&list=WL&index=1
So, if you’re like me and are always yearning to learn more about “the making of” your favorite album images (and eager to help bring good album art-related publications out for fans to enjoy), I’d invite you to grab one of the remaining copies – your collection will thank you for it.
D) Scheduled to take place over three days later in May, a new Julien’s auction contains a number of interesting album cover-related lots, including prints, photos and a number of autographed items – https://www.julienslive.com/auctions/catalog/id/394?page=2&catm=any&order=order_num&xclosed=no&featured=no&key=album+cover
According to the auction house’s advance press, their three-day “Music Icons” auction is taking place beginning Friday, May 20th through Sunday, May 22nd at the Hard Rock Café in New York City and live online at the link above. “Over 1,350 items will be offered in the all-star lineup of artifacts and memorabilia owned and used by some of the world’s greatest music artists of all-time including The Beatles, Eddie Van Halen, Kurt Cobain, Queen, Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Little Richard, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Cher, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and more.”
From Rolling Stone Bill Wyman’s personal collection, you’ll find several lots – Lot #1115 – The Rolling Stones “Goats Head Soup” album artwork proofs – A group of press proofs for the front and back cover and interior gatefold image used for The Rolling Stones 1973 album Goats Head Soup. The album artwork featured conceptual portraits of the band members by photographer David Bailey (est $2-3,000); lots #1122 and #1123 are Wyman-owned and band-signed lithos of the cover for 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll and several other plate-signed prints, all of which are from the collection from Wyman’s “Sticky Fingers” restaurants.
Other items include a limited-edition print of a photo from the album cover shoot for Johnny Cash’s 1994 album American Recordings (Lot 399 – est. $400 – $600); an autographed print of the album cover for Headquarters by The Monkees (Lot 470 – est. $800 –$ 1200); a bust of “Frank the Robot” used in designing Queen’s famous News of the World album cover and subsequent renditions of the iconic figure, including advertisements for the band’s 1977-78 “News of the World Tour.” According to the item’s description – “At the time of News of the World’s release, Frank the Robot became heavily associated with Queen and the album. The record company EMI designed a highly limited number of 54 inch plastic Franks to be used as record displays in premium record stores, and Freas (i.e., Frank Kelly Freas, famed science fiction book and magazine illustrator) used his image when designing advertisements for the 1977-78 News of the World Tour.” (Lot 503 has a pre-auction estimate of $20-40,000). Lots 1033, 1085, 1090 and 1092 offer collectors a selection of photos used in the making of several Rolling Stones LPs, including one (#1033) lenticular 3-D shot for the cover of Between The Buttons by photographer Gered Mankowitz.
Much more to see and place bids on can be found at https://www.julienslive.com/auctions/catalog/id/394?page=1&view=list&catm=any&order=order_num&xclosed=no&featured=no&key=album%20cover
E) Also at Julien’s is an auction ending next Monday May 16th featuring a very special collection of works by famed photographer Neil Zlozower, a mainstay in the rock photo business who has produced a great deal of the best-known shots of rockers such as Zakk Wylde, Black Label Society, Steve Vai, Alice Cooper, David Lee Roth, Slipknot and many others. Last month, Neil announced that he’s got a new NFT/print collection on sale/bid thru Julien’s known as “The FU Collection” which, as you might figure, shows all of its famous subjects “flipping the bird” in their own unique ways – https://www.julienslive.com/auctions/catalog/id/425
I found further coverage of the sale/collection in Popular Photography that I invite you to read yourself – https://www.popphoto.com/news/neil-zlozower-rock-portrait-auction/
Beginning his career as a glorified fan, Zlozower (who goes by “Zloz”) spent as much time as possible in Hollywood record shops and concerts – bringing with him a camera that he and his father bought in an East L.A. pawn shop and using phony backstage passes to gain entry. Since then, Zloz has gone on to become one of the most sought-after photographers in the business. He met guitarist Zakk Wylde when he first joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band in the late 1980’s and so when he was approached to shoot the soon-to-be-controversial cover for Black Label Society’s 2006 release Shot To Hell, he knew that he’d be in for quite a ride, one he shared with me a number of years ago in this interview article – https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2007/09/cover-story-bla.html
Anyone who loves rock and roll and motorcycles as much as Neil does would seem to have little problem making lasting friendships with many in the business, and so it makes perfect sense that he simply had to ask his friends to flip-off to the camera and, voila! – a new collection of photographs!
That’s all for now – be sure to come back for my complete monthly summary June 1st. See you soon.
Album Cover Hall of Fame.com 