A great new exhibit entitled Spin Art is opening this Friday February 26th at the Columbus Museum of Art.
The exhibit travels back to a time when the artwork on an album cover was almost as important as the music pressed into the grooves of the vinyl. It's an art form that got lost during the CD generation but with a renewed interest in vinyl, album cover artwork is alive and well. Spin Art will display actual album covers along with information about the art on the covers. Several different genres of music will be represented in the exhibit including Classic Rock, Punk, Heavy Metal, Alternative, Funk, Hip Hop and Jazz. Many iconic covers will be instantly familiar while others will be a bit more obscure.
Albums from Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, Funkadelic, Yes and Iron Maiden are just a few that will be on display during the six month run of Spin Art at CMOA. Just as recognizable as the names of the bands that created the music are the names of the graphic artists who brought album artwork to life including Andy Warhol, Roger Dean, Winston Smith, Derek Riggs and Gerhard Richter.
The Spin Art exhibit was put together by Jeff Sims, a creative producer for the Columbus Museum of Art. Jeff enlisted help from Brett Ruland of Spoonful Records to track down a specific list of 90 album covers to be featured in the exhibit. Brett along with his wife Amy Kesting contacted several local vinyl enthusiasts, including myself, as well as local record store owners Kyle Siegrist of Lost Weekend Records and David Lewis of Elizabeth's Records to lend records for display in the exhibit.
Several of the Spin Art contributors gathered at the Columbus Museum of Art last night for a sneak peak of the exhibit. Photo courtesy of Kyle Siegrist and taken by Amy Kesting.
Spin Art opens on Friday February 26th and runs through August 21st.
Below are five of my all-time favorite album covers that are NOT featured in the Spin Art exhibit but these are some covers that I would gaze at for hours in my youth.
1. Kiss - Destroyer
Not my favorite Kiss record but the cover is epic!
2. Alice Cooper - From the Inside
My favorite Alice "solo" record and the cover is very inventive. It has doors that open on the front and back of the cover that let you see inside Alice's insane asylum.
3. AC/DC - Powerage
One of my favorite AC/DC albums and I always felt like this album sounded the way the cover looks. Loud and full of energy!
4. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
I love this cover, always thought it looked like a cool comic book or video game.
5. T. Rex - Electric Warrior
A very simplistic design but very effective. Very iconic image.
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.