Re:Issues - a pop-up exhibition of album-themed art & tales

Based on Eurythmics 1987 album 'Savage', my work is a visual manifestation of the band's darkest and (although commercially relatively unsuccessful) most unsettling album of their long career. Savage takes a satirical look at fame, drudgery, emotional claustrophobia and desire told through a variety of over the top, spiky characters all role played by the ferocious Annie Lennox. The album mocks, denounces, disturbs and delights simultaneously. I discovered this album a few years after its release and it made a massive impact on me. It is an album I have regularly revisited ever since.

The connection to the lyrics and the outpouring of raw emotions on the album Singles by Future Islands, is something that I’ve never felt before with any album. The struggles, hurt and reflection in the lyrics is portrayed in such an honest way by Samuel T. Herring, and it resonates so strongly with me, and reflects so many of the themes of my work that I found myself creating this piece while listening to the album and letting it flow into the work.

The song Lighthouse is a stand out when I listen to the album, the thoughtful journey the song takes from one of despair and hurt to something that is slightly better and brighter, is a constant reminder to me that even the darkest moments can have hope. This is the same feeling I get through the process of stitching, which is slow, considered, repetitive and thoughtful. During this time I am left with my own thoughts and the time to process them in the flow of making.

The piece was constructed using repetitive hand piercing, rhythmic mark marking and stitching to illustrate patterns. Traditionally stitch is used to mend and repair but in this instance the act of mending works towards an emotional repair.

Inspired by the track 'Paranoid Android' and it's reference to gluttonous consumerism – "Gucci Piggy" has been captured in this illustrated work. The visual language has also been inspired by Magnus Carlsson who directed the animated video for the track.

In late 1965, at age 18, Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of a single marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a potential ten-year incarceration, Erickson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital. After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972. In 1974, after having been released from the state hospital, Erickson formed a new band who exchanged the psychedelic sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators for a more hard rock sound that featured lyrics on old horror film and science fiction themes. His songs had titles like Red Temple Prayer, Don't Shake Me Lucifer, Creature With The Atom Brain and Night Of The Vampire. Erickson died in Austin on May 31, 2019

I had the opportunity to catch him live at a regular yearly gig he played at SXSW in Austin, Texas. On this occasion, he was joined onstage by Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top. This design, which incorporates elements of his psychedelic and hard rock directions, is an imagined cover for a non-released live recording of that gig. Both the design and photography are mine.

Initially when the idea of exhibition has inspired me into the band NO DOUBT, since the beginning. More specific 'Tragic Kingdom' album. First cassette that would play on repeat when just a teenager. Side A, side B, side A and so on.

BUT 'Rock Steady' was also my first CD of them. The second track has a rough riff that anyone can hangbang at, the title? Hella good ;) And it's first visual queue into the song.

The Quarry Men : A Visual Reworking of Slint’s Spiderland.

From the very first time I heard Spiderland, I was drawn into its eerie musical landscape. The LP’s 6 tracks were full of mystery, complex instrumentation layered with hushed vocals that were at times almost inaudible. I had never heard anything like it before, and by the time I had; the band had split years previously. What they left us with was this enigmatic artefact, a record cover with a stark black and white photograph of four young men who didn’t quite fit the bill. Could these normal-looking guys really have created this otherworldly music? The rest of the packaging revealed little more to the listener, other than a one-time search for a female singer (the floating presence of Polly Jean Harvey). More than 25 years since Slint’s second and final album came into my life, its beautifully foreboding music and imagery still haunt me in the nicest possible way.