Published May 24, 2024 by Mike Goldstein
You may recall that, in a recent ACHOF newsletter “Lastly But Not Leastly” segment, I spent a few moments bragging about the purchase of a new turntable and how that purchase ultimately led me to both meeting an album cover-credited artist I’d never met before and then adding a print of his work to my art collection. Since that time, I’ve received my print (see photo, above) and had the time to correspond with the artist – Thomas Steyer, whose studio is in Schliengen in SW Germany (not too far from Basel, Switzerland) – to learn more about him, his background and, as you might figure, how he came to paint what became one of the better-known images associated with Mark Knopfler and the Dire Straits.
Those who’ve followed the ACHOF for years might recall that, early on in the establishment of this esteemed* organization (during the years 2012-2015, to be precise), the voting panel handed out several “Individual Achievement Awards” to a group of artists and designers who, “while not working primarily in the music-packaging field, created a memorable album cover.” In some cases, the winning artist may have had his/her career cut short due to illness or death (a condition that seems to have plagued some of those associated with the burgeoning recorded music industry) while, in other examples, an artist’s talents in one specialty area (painting, sculpture, etching, etc.) were discovered and they were then commissioned to apply those talents in some unique way to an album cover project. In more than one instance, the nominee was a friend/relative/business associate/guru of someone related to the featured musical act and, therefore, entrusted with this important responsibility one single time but, regardless of the circumstances, each IAA winner had left an indelible mark on the art of the album cover, with previous winners including (in alphabetical order): Lee Conklin (Santana by Santana), Barry Godber (King Crimson’s Court of the Crimson King), Richard Hamilton (The Beatles’ The Beatles, AKA “The White Album”), Sacha Jafri (Silver Rails by Jack Bruce), Catherine Kanner (Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming), Mike McInnerney (The Who’s Tommy), Vic Singh (The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd) and Kirk Weddle (Nirvana’s Nevermind). Today, I’d like to present to you another work that I believe deserves to have been nominated in this category, along with anecdotes from the person that created it.
(* well, at least liked by several of you)
While not a friend/relative/etc. of songwriter/virtuoso guitarist Mark Knopfler and the band he fronted, Thomas was a big fan of their music and, as you’ll read in the following interview, he felt motivated to express his passion for both music and the application of paint to canvas in the best way he knew how – contacting his musical hero, convincing him to send out a prized instrument from his collection for him to use as his inspiration for a work of art and then creating a masterpiece that not only impressed Mr. Knopfler and his record label – who featured the work on the back cover of the hit 1985 album Brothers In Arms (see photo, below) – but also led Steyer to take what he’d learned and apply it to a new phase in his career as a visual artist.
The interview contains excerpts from a transcript of a presentation Thomas made not too long ago to introduce himself to attendees to a current exhibition of his work on display at the Helios Klinik in Müllheim, Germany (continuing through September) along with the answers to the barrage of questions I’d sent him over the past couple of months after first sending him an interview request, to which he tantalized me with this reply – “Dear Mike, I’m curious about what questions I’ll be getting from you. I have a little anecdote about the guitar and why the bridge cover on my painting is upside down. It doesn’t seem to matter as it is symmetrical, but the worn edges should be on the opposite side. Have I made you curious?” to which I replied, “Dear Thomas – The anecdote you teased me with is exactly the kind of thing that I’ll be looking for, along with your opinions about album art in general, so keep them on hand for me, OK?” (I’d sent this just as I was leaving for a long trip overseas, which delayed the start of this writing project)… I’m hoping that you are as curious as I was for the details and the other related tidbits I was hoping to gather and so, without further delay, let’s spend some quality time together learning more about this talented artist and an early work of his (and his only major album art credit) that’s kept fans fascinated for nearly 40 years…
While doing some background on Thomas, I’d found that the project that produced the colorful guitar image found on the back of my now-well-worn copy of Brothers In Arms came along at a point in this artist’s career during which, while living in 1980s London, he was trying to decide on the style of artwork that best-reflected his abilities and creative curiosities and that would allow him to earn a living at the same time.
Let Thomas describe how he arrived at that point and how things proceeded going forward –
“I’d studied art, first in Berlin and then in London. I always wanted to paint realistically, however, at that time, abstract art was in vogue, which unfortunately often turned gray in Berlin – serious and sad, just like The Wall. I had to paint in the same rooms where a lot of paint was splattered around, where wall-sized paintings were worked on with paint rollers. I was surrounded by ladders and buckets, as if I had decorators in the house. I didn’t like that so much because I had to protect my paintings from these paint splatters. It was just too gray around me.
Meanwhile, in London, the art scene was almost too vibrant. Many of my peers were influenced by David Hockney, and my school was located on King’s Road, the center of the punk movement, which was thriving at the time. Nevertheless, I persisted in my very realistic style.
I found shiny objects fascinating and painted stainless steel kitchen utensils, bicycle parts, ball bearings (which are artworks in themselves, bits of great design unfortunately hidden inside machines), etc. In contrast to photography, where reflective objects are often depicted colorless with high contrast, I tried to portray them as vividly colored as possible. While photographers removed everything that could reflect on the surface, I brought in everything to give color to the objects.
After completing my studies, I decided to stay in London, at least for a while, as I had made friends and even got married. Professionally, I was dubbed a “One-Off-Painter” – one painting, done. While other artists often produced entire series for sale, I painted and sold, painted and sold. To plan an exhibition, I had to refrain from selling for a while, which was difficult. How was I supposed to live in the meantime? My father had warned me: If you want to be a painter, you must be able to make a living from it. He himself was a sculptor and had made a living from it. He knew what he was talking about.
I sought out my own clientele. I borrowed objects, often directly from the manufacturers themselves, and subsequently offered the resulting oil-on-canvas paintings to them for sale. Most of the time, it worked out, and I was well rewarded. Often, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. For instance, the Jaguar factory in Coventry had a lot of cars in their entrance hall and decided that they could use something for the walls, while Shure Microphones was looking for a birthday present for one of their managers…just to name two examples.
Following my instincts, I decided to write to some of my favorite musicians, asking if they could lend me their guitars. I caught Mark Knopfler at a good time, it seems, so when Liz Whatley from Damage Management called me to schedule a time for me to pick up Mark Knopfler’s National Steel, I had no idea that I would be meeting Mark himself. I suppose he wanted to personally see who he entrusted his guitar to. The guitar, which holds significant meaning for him as he emphasized, is featured on all his albums, notably, he said, in the track ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from Making Movies. ‘I know,’ I said.
We discussed colors and Mark mentioned his fondness for ocean blues and turquoise. The nickel-plated guitar, when polished to a mirror-like finish, could reflect any color and the palm trees and stars were, of course, already etched into the guitar’s finish. Inspired by this, I envisioned a seascape while experimenting with colored objects near the reflective guitar to observe how the distortions worked on its curves, and so I painted an abstract scene with a lagoon in the foreground and a wave in it, a pink beach with some bushland behind, hills, and even snow-capped mountains. The choice of a pink beach was somewhat spontaneous, influenced by my affinity for the color at the time.
One change that Mark asked me for was to omit the electric pickup, which featured prominently in Deborah’s photograph (Editor’s note – Thomas is referring to Deborah Feingold, who took the photograph you’ll find on the front cover of the album) – which I only saw later when the album came out – and perhaps to smooth out some of the dents.
He’d lent me the guitar and a stand to go with it, trusting me to return it (Paul Cummins, the tour manager, jokingly suggested that I leave my wife and kids behind as collateral!). Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, I returned the guitar undamaged, despite letting all my guitar-playing friends have a go at it for a few minutes, and everyone at Damage Management was delighted with the 7-foot painting I’d completed. Mark bought it and had it shipped to his apartment in New York and the management of Dire Straits offered to use the painting on the back of their upcoming album Brothers In Arms. There was just enough time to include it on the back cover of BIA, which would otherwise have remained quite plain.
It was only after Mark received his National Steel back that he noticed something amiss with the bridge cover. Prior to handing me the guitar, it had just returned from the repair shop, having been accidentally sat on while still in its original cardboard case. As a result, the resonator cone was damaged and needed replacement. During reassembly, the bridge cover was mistakenly affixed in the wrong orientation. Although symmetrical, this error caused the worn edges to be on the incorrect side. The guitar had to be returned to the repair shop, and I offered to adjust the detail in the painting accordingly. However, Paul suggested leaving the painting as is and proposed a competition in the fan magazine titled “Who Can Spot the Difference.” He quickly abandoned the idea upon realizing it might be too challenging for the fans, especially given the numerous differences, such as the absence of painted dents, electrical components, and the piece of rag under the tailpiece.
BTW, I also did a painting of the back of the guitar, which Mark also bought. Since the etching was of a sunset, it has a completely different mood…
Before the release of BIA, I must admit that I was surprised to see a single in the record shops with part of my painting on the cover – https://a3.cdn.hhv.de/items/images/generated/970×970/00956/956287/1-dire-straits-so-far-away.webp and, just today, when I Googled the topic, I came across another single I had never seen before – https://www.last.fm/de/music/Dire+Straits/Why+Worry/+images/1cce6046eb786d4807353059d986bb79, which makes me wonder what others there might be out there…
It’s anecdotal to mention now that the reflections in my object paintings were my first foray into abstraction. Back then, I had no inkling that someday I would delve into abstract painting. It happened after years of abstaining from canvas work altogether. I was seeking a balance to my computer illustration work and simply let loose without a worry in the world—an authentic expression of artistic freedom.) Years later, as an abstract expressionist, I did paint on guitars, notably a Fender Telecaster, which resulted in vibrant designs. I also experimented with painting on other objects like tables and chairs. However, when asked why I didn’t paint everything, I quipped, ‘Because I’m not a hippy.’
In addition to being used on the record cover, my painting was widely used for the Brothers In Arms tour graphics and merchandise. I felt honored when pink, along with blue, was selected as a recurring theme for Brothers In Arms. However, I wasn’t pleased with the T-shirt. My painting on it was distorted and somehow clumsily placed in a certain perspective. I thought I could have done it better myself.
Of course, I realized that it was already too late, but I went in search to see how I could have perhaps done it better, and that’s when I came across the airbrush illustrator Tom Stimpson. He immediately bought one of my paintings (one with my rendering of paper clips) and gave me his old compressor and two airbrushes. He gave me some tips and let me watch him work a few times.
After getting some practice with the airbrush, I became an illustrator myself and worked for the advertising industry from then on. I received a wide variety of assignments, sometimes well-paid ones from the pharmaceutical industry and sometimes less lucrative editorial work. But overall, I earned well and couldn’t complain. Except about the weather…So, I ended up emigrating from England to Australia, to Sydney. Wonderful weather. And there was work for me there too. My style became even more realistic, and when in a few years the development of computers was advanced enough for artists to work with, I was one of the first to completely switch my working process to digital. They said it wouldn’t catch on, that art directors always want something to hold in their hands. That was wrong.
However, I needed a balance. After all, I was a painter. I wanted to work with paint and brushes, so I started painting large abstract paintings alongside the delicate illustration work. Between two assignments, I could really let loose. Completely casual. Just paint as it came out of me. Not thinking about whether anyone would like it or even hang it in their apartment.
Gradually, painting abstract pictures became my second profession. I had successful exhibitions, and life was good. Then it got even better when I met a German woman. When her time in Australia was up, I moved with her to Germany in 2003. To the countryside. That was possible because my illustration work was now running over the internet. I used to have to live in big cities, near advertising agencies, because time was always a big factor in the assignments. Now I was in the countryside – Schliengen-Liel. Very nice. Elke, my wife, taught at a primary school nearby. Everything was good and beautiful.
Of course, things had to change. The internet was a blessing and a curse (it still is). I got orders from all over the world and could live in a village. But suddenly, the clients were young people who weren’t as loyal as my previous clients. They got several cost estimates and then commissioned someone in China, maybe a student still living with their parents. Slowly but surely, my abstract painting moved more to the forefront, and illustration work became secondary until it finally ebbed away completely. It had probably gotten around that I could already be over 40, so “an old man”.
Today, I paint – I wouldn’t say like a retiree, maybe more like someone obsessed who has nothing to lose. Passionate, indeed. I now sell my paintings over the internet to all corners of the world. There are some art sales portals that are very helpful in this regard. They take care of the sale, shipping, and customs clearance, and I have to build a crate every time. Since the whole thing takes place on an international level, communication is naturally in English. And that’s why I give my paintings English titles right away, so as not to cause confusion, as I was accustomed to during my time in Australia and England.
Nobody can predict the future, but many things will be different, everyone knows that. Most things change, and so does my painting. As long as I can, I will contribute to change. Hopefully always in a positive sense. That’s at least my wish.”
About our interviewee, artist Thomas Steyer –
Thomas was born in February 1955 in Berlin, Germany. He holds a BA in Fine Art from the Chelsea School of Art in London, where he studied from 1976 through 1979, which followed his coursework and artistic training from 1973 to 1976 at the Berlin University of the Arts.
He’s authored one novel titled Tödliche Millionen (in German), which centers on a lottery winner whose girlfriend is kidnapped shortly after his big win. Infused with subtle humor, the intricacies of the story may have been missed by German readers. Although the book is presently out of print, secondhand copies are available for purchase on Amazon. He is currently working on his second book, which centers around a woman grappling with the loss of her husband in a drowning accident. Despite her heartbreak, she channels her emotions into fervent painting, eventually finding her path to success.
His works are currently being showcase in a solo exhibition that launched March 1, 2024 at The Helios Klinik in Müllheim, Germany and which runs through September – https://www.helios-gesundheit.de/standorte-angebote/kliniken/muellheim/news/2024/erster-integrationsmanager-bei-den-helios-kliniken-breisgau-hochschwarzwald1/ (in German, but Google Translate works nicely).
I asked Thomas for some anecdotes about him and his work and here’s how he replied – “Dear Mike, I appreciate your interest in writing about me, even though I may not neatly fit into the realm of album cover design. As I mentioned, I’m not a designer and haven’t been directly involved in creating album covers. However, my paintings have been featured on various projects (including, of course, the back cover of Brothers in Arms), as well as on tour paraphernalia, posters, and brochures for Hank Marvin with the Shadows, and possibly for B.B. King.
The inclusion of my painting on Brothers in Arms was serendipitous. A contract was drawn up to use my painting for a mere 1 pound, which, to this day, remains unpaid. Nevertheless, I am honored to be credited on the album. I hold Mark Knopfler in high regard for his musical talents.”
You can see more of his work at his German website at http://www.thomas-steyer.de. It predominantly features images, with minimal English text. Explore the link to “Bilder kaufen” (“Buying”, for those interested in purchasing his artworks) for more English content there, as well as in the “Vita” section. In the “Poems” section, you’ll find mostly English rhymes he’s penned, such as this one:
The Dentist
She saw a dentist who was a sadist thru and thru.
Looks bad, he said, shall we see what I can do?
With a tremble in her voice she asked, will it hurt?
Maybe so, he grinned, but only if I wannit to.
Bonus info – When I’d first read Thomas’s name, it sounded familiar to me and, after a few seconds, I was reminded that the name Tom Steyer also belongs to an American businessman and former candidate for President. Out of curiosity, I asked Thomas if he was aware of – or related to – the billionaire hedge fund manager/investor and here’s his reply –
“Interestingly, my namesake, Tom Steyer, acquired my domain, tomsteyer.com, from me about 10 years ago (and he even threw in his German domain, tomsteyer.de – he had purchased all available Tom Steyer domains). I wasn’t aware of him while living in Australia, where I went by the name Tom. Now residing in Germany, I’ve reverted to using “Thomas.” The reason I decided to go by the name Tom was that people called me “Mr. Deyer” when I told them my full name. This occurred because the ‘s’ in Thomas flows into the ‘S’ in Steyer, softening the ‘t’ to a ‘D’. It felt odd that I preferred to be called Thomas by my friends but Tom when combined with my surname, as it’s usually the other way around. In German, ‘Steyer’ is pronounced ‘Shteyer’, which doesn’t pose the same issue. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t insist on pronouncing my name the German way. Perhaps I felt somewhat embarrassed about being German, and it seems to be happening again.
In any case, no, he isn’t a relative, unfortunately.”
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2024 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. All the trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.
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