Wednesday, 15 February 2012

10 of 10cc

Secret pre-publicity news here for our blog and facebook friends....we are working on a set of 10cc album cover prints with the king of album cover art, Mr Storm Thorgerson (surely that should be a 'Sir' by now) and they are not far from readiness now.

Just a couple of images to proof and they'll be ready to release. Along with these, we'll have Lol Creme on camera talking about the beauty of album covers and reminiscing about some of his 10cc favourites.

Wednesday, 08 February 2012

Album Art | The Painted Note Gallery | Page 2

Album Art | The Painted Note Gallery | Page 2:

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, 07 February 2012

A parcel of art from Hoboken, NJ

Working with artists to publish their album cover art is a pretty rewarding process - from the initial proposal that alights the creative spark to the final sign-off and numbering of the edition, it is a joy to be part of. But it is also a long process and sometimes, when time or money is tight, a frustrating one.

So now and then it is great to leap straight to the rewarding bit; opening this parcel of (now very rare) Jim Flora album cover art prints has kicked off a drizzly kind of Tuesday with a warm festive feeling!

Monday, 30 January 2012

Time for some Secret 7"

Once in a while it is nice to be reminded of what it is about sleeve design, album cover art, music and it's packaging that is so ruddy great and Secret 7" has done just that for this hypergallery blogger. Secret 7" combines music and art all in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and you can find out more on the project's facebook page.

The basic premise is similar to the RCA Secret postcard show that has been such a success, year after year. But this is better, naturally! Because it is all about sleeve design and as the project's own campaign manager says, "Thereis something about vinyl that transcends every format that has followed in itspath ... [it] allowsthe listener to be absorbed by more than one of their senses."

More on this to come but do check out the facebook page in the meantime or follow Secret7s on twitter.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

New signed book from Storm Thorgerson

New signed book from Storm Thorgerson:

'via Blog this'

Monday, 09 January 2012

Hypergallery's Andy interviewed on camera for the Daily Record

Saturday, 31 December 2011

2011: Year of NEW

It's been a year of new things for hypergallery - NEW website, new editions published, NEW friends at the A&D Gallery and Centre Arts. We also launched our NEW Vimeo channel with videos of Storm Thorgerson and Steve Miller.

In the spirit of the best albums lists that dominate the culture pages at this time each year we'll start a NEW tradition: taking a look at those lists and illuminating some of the noteworthy album cover art from amongst the ordained. This is a gentle foray and by no means a top five list.

Björk - Biophilia

Artist: M/M Paris and Inez & Vinoodh

Never one to neglect the visual Björk has given us a real feast for the eyes and mind with her latest project. From a photo session with M/M Paris and Inez & Vinoodh that reportedly inspired her video for Moon, this image joins a lineage of extraordinary album cover portraits of Björk, instantly recognisable yet totally unique. Sporting the huge orange wig that she debuted at her Biophilia live shows (in which it provided a canvas for dramatic lighting and an expression of landscape, life forms and the Biophilia themes) she fills the square image with her pose. No little pixie here: she is a diva, an earth mother, a magician and a goddess.

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Artist: PJ Harvey and Michelle Henning

Featuring Harvey's own drawings the simple cover image works with the typography to almost onomatopoeic effect. Like Björk, Harvey is an artistic force that cannot be contained within the boundaries of the musical.

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Artist: Gregor Euclide

Gregory Euclide has been thoughtful enough to document his work on this cover in progress and publish the photos on Flickr HERE and HERE. Such a treat and so rare for an artist to document and moreover share their studio practice so closely.

Euclide's work, etherial landscapes with a nod to east asian pictorial traditions and also perhaps to european childrens' story book illustrations, seems the perfect fit for Bon Iver's delicate, wintry music.

You can read an interview with Euclide all about the album artwork on the excellent My Love For You blog by Meighan O'Toole.

Staying on the path of exemplary singer songwriter whimsy we have a very different cover indeed for Rough Trade's Album of the Year 2011:

Josh T. Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen

Artist: Steve Gullick

Pearson begs forgiveness from the female figure, or woman-kind, striking a humble pose both striking and intimate. It may be an advance apology for the lyrics you are about to hear (depending on your take) or maybe for an unknown wrong. Whichever and whatever, this photograph that appears at first like fashion mag fodder is in fact an enduring and appropriate visual for the music within.

Steve Gullick has photographed portraits and album covers for a broad sweep of musical talent: Will Oldham, The Foals, Foo Fighters, Richard Hawley, Nick Cave, Patty Smith, Kurt Cobain, Beck...I could go on....and some beautiful landscapes to boot. His collection of work for and of Josh T. Pearson is a masterpiece.

Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind Of Fix

Artist: Katie Scott

Making Q's list of the top 50 albums of 2011 and graced by this psycho-anatomical wonderment from recent Brighton graduate Katie Scott. She has also provided art for Bombay Bicycle Club singles and deserves great success in 2012, we think! You can see more of her work, including interior photos of the album, on her Tumblr blog.

Tuesday, 06 December 2011

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was the first Hipgnosis album cover commission from Genesis / Peter Gabriel, a relationship that lasted for the first three Peter Gabriel solo albums (Car, Scratch and Melt). A while ago Storm Thorgerson told us what he remembered about The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway:

"We conceived of a story board or comic strip, but made of photographs.....A major part of this involved the character stepping outside the comic strip and taking a detached view, looking back at this life, a step considered necessary in the process of self-realisation. Thus the main character is seen literally stepping out of the picture, leaving a man-shaped white hole in his wake."

All the imagery was photographed in black and white negative and the resulting prints were reassembled, adjusted in size, comped together and recopied to provide a single flat artwork.

Fresh from a Peter Gabriel signing session today, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is back at Hypergallery HQ, safely tucked away in the plan chests ready to head off to new homes all around the world.

A nice strong signature from Peter Gabriel gives this print, the Hipgnosis album cover art from his final album with Genesis, a sense of completeness.

Photographs of Peter Gabriel signing the prints will be up on hypergallery.com soon!

Sunday, 04 December 2011

Live in Cheltenham

Centre Arts in Cheltenham is a small but perfectly formed, good vibey kind of place with awesome people stoking the fires of creativity.

The art courses, the knit and natter events, the ukelele lessons and more are drawing locals and those from further afield, hypergallery included, through the door....which is just off the high street.

So there's no excuse not to get yourself down there to see The Art of the Album!

Friday, 25 November 2011

A&D + Hypergallery

Some pics from a very lovely November evening a the A&D as we launched the new-look hypergallery.com. If you missed it, you can catch us at Centre Arts in Cheltenham from Tuesday 29th November until Christmas.

the lovely A&D by night

the Peter Gabriel room

meet Andie Airfix

lovely Liz Kershaw

our very own Andy Wood (right)

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Buy a piece of musical history at The Art behind the Album – Now. Here. This. – Time Out London

Buy a piece of musical history at The Art behind the Album – Now. Here. This. – Time Out London:

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

In With The New: Free postage in 2011

We welcome in the first stage of the new hypergallery.com with free postage on all prints purchased in 2011!

Pretty soon there'll be lots more content to view on theproduct pages as we build an image, video and information rich hub for albumcover art fans to enjoy.

In the meantime, we're keeping things simple and easy tonavigate.

Happy browsing!

Monday, 21 November 2011

Christmas Order-By Dates!

Don't worry, there's loads of time and frankly we haven't done a single bit of Christmas shopping ourselves yet BUT just in case you are wondering, here are the all the important 'order by' dates to guarantee your album cover art print / book / poster / collectable arrives before Christmas.

Rest of world*:
Order by Sunday 4th December

Eastern Europe, USA, and Canada:
Order by Wednesday 8th December

Western Europe:
Order by Sunday 11th December

UK:
Order by Monday 19th December

* Rest of world includes: South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand

We'll most likely be shipping your order within a couple of days so if you miss these dates you'll still probably be okay - if in doubt just call us to discuss it on (+44) 1491 637021.

Friday, 18 November 2011

Out With The Old

As our new website approaches readiness the reality of leaving the old one for good looms ever closer, and it feels like we are moving home; exciting but a little sad.The system that frustrated us nevertheless embodies the concept of Hypergallery as it was: a virtual gallery in which we would 'hang' album cover art and through the galleries of which 'visitors' could browse one-artist shows and themed special exhibitions. In the end, the limitations of the format made us long for a new, image heavy website that leaves the gallery concept behind.

The new website follows a template that will be familiar to anyone who shops online with an ultra-simple, flexible structure on which we can build as we grow. Soon there will be videos, links and features that make hypergallery.com feel like a magazine and archive full of all the information an album cover lover could possibly fit in their boots - a veritable planet album art.

We have many bells and whistles up our sleeves but the basic site launches next week and we are holding a pop-up event at the real bricks-and-mortar A&D Gallery in Marylebone to celebrate this laying-to-rest of our own digital one.So long hypergallery.com #1; you may be only a website but we're awful fond of you.

Monday, 07 November 2011

BULLETIN: Pink Floyd

More lovely design by Storm Thorgerson and StormStudios graces Pink Floyd SACD releases out today:

A Foot In The Door – The Best of Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here – 'Immersion' and 'Experience' editions, Vinyl LP, and digital editions

You can find out more at the official website: Why Pink Floyd?

And all this just after the Meddle's 40th anniversary. Meddle makes the case for album cover art all on its own: the full length image hanging on our walls is both a link to the music and a thing of beauty unto itself - a different beast entirely from the square image we all recognise from the album cover. See HERE.

Monday, 07 November 2011

Album Covers by Raymond Pettibon

And another lazy re-post -

Raymond Pettibon this time.

How did Blag Flag pass me by until now? All I knew was the tattoo.

Album Covers by Raymond Pettibon:

'via Blog this'

Friday, 28 October 2011

Steve Byram

A bit of a cheat blog about Steve Byram from me but this is worth sharing. More on Columbia's Art Directors past coming soon....

Steve Byram | Theoryhaus:

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

shop = community

We are redesigning the hypergallery website this month with a launch due at the beginning of November. We're having great fun finding extra content for the product pages in the hope that our excitement about the artists, covers and music will spill over into each page and that hypergallery.com might become a place to visit to find out more.

We are not a local shop, and there is no chance of a gossip about the neighbours as you buy a pint of milk, but we sure hope we can emulate some of that community feeling with fellow fans of album cover art.

This short Jim Flora documentary video popped up in the @hypergallery twitter earlier today and it will certainly be featuring on our Jim Flora print pages soon. Enjoy!

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

BOOK Big-Up: Coast to Coast Album Covers

Coast to Coast Album Covers: Classic Record Art From New York to LA is a celebration, an archive and further proof that the idea of album cover art as a subject and an art form has taken hold in the public conscious.As the Crossed Combs blog put it "...yet another coffee table book about record covers. And we're not complaining, au contraire."

This is a particularly special book from the authors who brought us The Cover Art of Blue Note Records in the 1990s. No doubt they have helped to generate some of the much deserved enthusiasm buzz surrounding the album cover art genre that is in evidence today. They certainly raised awareness about the work created by Reid Miles for Blue Note that reflected so eloquently the style of the music it held.

These two books by Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham, Coast to Coast Album Covers and The Cover Art of Blue Note Records, alongside several other books that we consider to be gems of album cover art writing will hopefully be available to buy from our Hypergallery - Bookshop when we relaunch hypergallery.com soon. Lots of new goodies to browse; much new knowledge to imbibe!

Coast to Coast Album Covers and The Cover Art of Blue Note Records are both published by Collins & Brown, part of the Anova Books Group. Thanks to @harriharriharri for our preview.

Friday, 30 September 2011

Collecting

Warning: This post is full of puns.

Sarah Green Eyes by Storm Thorgerson

Two pieces of sound advice for collectors courtesy of Edy de Wilde, Director of the Stedelijk from 1963 - 1985:

"One should collect not with one's ears but with ones eyes, with one's mind and with one's heart"

"One should avoid reading art magazines."

We say there isn't always harm in using your ears, but then Edy probably hadn't really 'got' album cover art. His loss, hey?

Monday, 26 September 2011

Pink Floyd pig flies again to mark albums reissue - latimes.com

Pink Floyd pig flies again to mark albums reissue - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

T7BBC95D8E95

Monday, 26 September 2011

Psychedelic Sundaze: Sunday, October 2nd, 2-6pm - Idea Generation - Gallery

Psychedelic Sundaze: Sunday, October 2nd, 2-6pm - Idea Generation - Gallery:

'via Blog this'

Monday, 19 September 2011

Goosemusic — Storm thorgerson talks about synrise album cover

Goosemusic — Storm thorgerson talks about synrise album cover:

'via Blog this'

Friday, 16 September 2011

Pink Floyd's Discovery Box Set

Pink Floyd are set to release DISCOVERY, an epic box set of 16 studio albums newly remastered by James Guthrie (co-producer of The Wall).

It will be released on 26 September 2011 but thanks to our generous friend Storm Thorgerson, Hypergallery have had a sneak preview and a good listen and we reckon you couldn't do better as an introduction to the band, if you have cash to splash all in one go.

It isn't bad value at all at less than a tenner per album and the sound quality is fab. CDs may be going out of fashion but an iTunes download doesn't offer the same audio-geek-out opportunity. We discovered a whole new layer of audio on Piper At The Gates of Dawn. Could just be that our old copy was particularly poor but I suspect that is the case for many fans.

You also get a lovely little booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson that features artwork he has designed for the band, lots of out takes, pictures of the band and discussions about his work for Pink Floyd over the years. He seemed pleased with it and rightly so; the booklet and the box set are neat, desirable, comprehensive and simply all that a box set should be.

The albums included are: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn; A Saucerful Of Secrets; More; Ummagumma; Atom Heart Mother; Meddle; Obscured By Clouds; The Dark Side Of The Moon; Wish You Were Here; Animals; The Wall; The Final Cut; A Momentary Lapse Of Reason; The Division Bell.

You can see all Pink Floyd art prints by Storm Thorgerson on the Pink Floyd wall at Hypergallery HERE.

You can see Hypergallery's full stock of Storm Thorgerson prints HERE.

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Ten famous paintings on album sleeves « Artfinder – blogging the art of discovery

Ten famous paintings on album sleeves « Artfinder – blogging the art of discovery:

'via Blog this'