'This is a Call' Front of a vinyl sleeve, Mix Media, Photography & Digital Art March 2020
'This is a Call' Back of a vinyl sleeve, Mix Media, Photography & Digital Art March 2020
With the auction finished and all records sold, I can finally reveal my entry to the seventh and final Secret7'', a Vinyl Jacket artwork for Foo Fighters 'This Is A Call'.
Thank you so much to whomever bought it, the sales of all 700 Vinyls raised £134,000 for the Charity 'Choose Love'.
Looking back at the début Foo Fighters album (in it's embryonic Dave Grohl's pseudonym state, pre actual band) made me think of precursors. The song makes you think of phones. Electronic ones. I thought of the step before all that however, before electromagnets, a back to basics approach. Like a musician in playing every instrument themselves. I drew parallels; why not an earlier version of telephony, a Tin Can phone. Jarringly simplistic in its contrast to the usual sci-fi associations of the band. Stripped down to the 'Skin and Bones' if you will. Much like the first verse of the song before the drums hit. The sound before that, the feedback from a cablejack being plugged in, I knew had to be represented. I'd toyed with the idea of a fantastical switchboard, but then figured, what's more surreal than being able to jack in this device, this phone into an amp and scream thanks down the line, to invite the fan/s to pick up the call and plug into the music, hence the outstretched can.
Thank you so much to whomever bought it, the sales of all 700 Vinyls raised £134,000 for the Charity 'Choose Love'.
Looking back at the début Foo Fighters album (in it's embryonic Dave Grohl's pseudonym state, pre actual band) made me think of precursors. The song makes you think of phones. Electronic ones. I thought of the step before all that however, before electromagnets, a back to basics approach. Like a musician in playing every instrument themselves. I drew parallels; why not an earlier version of telephony, a Tin Can phone. Jarringly simplistic in its contrast to the usual sci-fi associations of the band. Stripped down to the 'Skin and Bones' if you will. Much like the first verse of the song before the drums hit. The sound before that, the feedback from a cablejack being plugged in, I knew had to be represented. I'd toyed with the idea of a fantastical switchboard, but then figured, what's more surreal than being able to jack in this device, this phone into an amp and scream thanks down the line, to invite the fan/s to pick up the call and plug into the music, hence the outstretched can.
My piece, alongside the other 699 bespoke designs, were displayed at the NOW Gallery in London from14th Oct to 1st Nov 2020 before being sold at Auction.
Was a great surprise to find my String Can hiding in the guerilla billboard advertisements that popped up in London to advertise the Gallery Show! Nothing better than seeing your artwork out in the wild.
"Secret 7” exhibition, with leading names from the worlds of music and art collaborating to produce 700 one-of-a-kind 7” singles to benefit Help Refugees, hosted in partnership with Columbia Records and Camden Town Brewery. NOW Gallery will be transformed with a display of 700 records each with individual sleeve designs.
The records are created by pressing seven iconic tracks onto 7” vinyl, with each track being limited to just 100 copies.
Creatives around the world – from talented newcomers to some of the world’s greatest artists – submit sleeve artwork for the 700 records creating one-of-a-kind collectables that appeal to hardcore fans, record collectors and art connoisseurs alike. The 700 records will be exhibited at NOW Gallery before they are made available to buy. The identities of their creators remain a secret until the record is in their new owner’s hands. The 2020 tracks span a variety of genres and 54 years of music history, from all-time classics from Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan to more recent releases from Koffee and Vampire Weekend. Foo Fighters celebrate their 25th anniversary by taking their story back to the beginning as they provide their official debut single This Is A Call. This will be the final Secret 7” event in its current guise."
