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Sound art
An unprecedented collection of artists record covers from the 1950s to today
Since the dawn of modernism, visual and music production have had a particularly intimate relationship. From Luigi Russolos 1913 Futurist manifesto LArte dei Rumori (The Art of Noise) to Marcel Duchamps 1925 double-sided discs Rotereliefs, the 20th century saw ever more fertile exchange between sounds and shapes, marks and melodies, and different fields of composition and performance.
In Francesco Spampinato unique anthology of artists record covers, we discover the rhythm of this particular cultural history. The book presents 500 covers and records by visual artists from the 1950s through to today, exploring how modernism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art, postmodernism, and various forms of contemporary art practice have all informed this collateral field of visual production and supported the mass distribution of music with defining imagery that swiftly and suggestively evokes an aural encounter.
Along the way, we find Jean-Michel Basquiats urban hieroglyphs for his own Tartown record label, Banksys stenciled graffiti for Blur, Damien Hirsts synecdoche skull for The Hours, and a skewered Salvador Dalí butterfly on Jackie Gleasons Lonesome Echo. There are insightful analyses and fact sheets alongside the covers listing the artist, performer, album name, label, year of release, and information on the original artwork. Interviews with Tauba Auerbach, Shepard Fairey, Kim Gordon, Christian Marclay, Albert Oehlen, and Raymond Pettibon add personal accounts on the collaborative relationship between artists and musicians.
Text in English, French, and German
