Album Art

Many of us miss album art. Now you can get the art without the album.

It started here in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but “The Greatest Album Covers That Never Were” exhibit is in L.A. at the Track 16 Gallery.

What is that, you may ask?

Maybe you can’t always judge a book by looking at its cover, but you can often judge an album by its cover. The cover art of a record or CD has always been an integral part of portraying the image and the essence of the recording artist. Documented by many books, record cover art has become an art form in itself, above and beyond the music inside the jacket. Many renowned artists have shown their love for this medium by creating covers for their favorite musicians.

Conceived by music archivist Michael Ochs and graphic designer Craig Butler, this project takes album cover art to a whole new level. One hundred established graphic and fine artists were approached to create the definitive album cover of their favorite recording artist. Each chose an iconic musical subject from the 1940s to the present and from the genres of rock, blues, jazz, country and soul music. The result is an original and highly creative collection of contemporary art.

While you’re at Track 16, check out “Table Turners: Album Covers by Artist Who Hardly do Album Covers”:

October 11 through November 15, 2003

Table Turners: Album Covers by Artist Who Hardly do Album Covers

Curated by George Meredith from his own collection, Track 16 Gallery presents “Table Turners: Album Covers by Artist Who Hardly do Album Covers.” Over 30 artists are represented in this exhibition including Andy Warhol, Robert Frank, Al Hirschfeld, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon, Robert Longo, Jean-Michel Folon, Salvador Dali, Mort Drucker, Howard Finster, Ed Ruscha, Danny Lyon, and Hilary Knight. After attending an exhibition in Soho that featured 2000 album covers, collector George Meredith had the idea of building a collection of album covers done by artists who generally did not make a living doing so. His collection includes an album cover by Salvador Dali for his good friend, Jackie Gleason, as well as a cover done by Andy Warhol, prior his ascent into art stardom, for jazz label Blue Note Records prototype for their newest 16 RPM recording. For Meredith, the purpose of this exhibition is to bring attention to the fact that the album cover, as an art form, was of great importance especially in the 1950s and 1960s.