Muse, "Uprising" © Storm Thorgerson
The exhibition will feature billboards and bus sides, digital downloads and postage stamps for artists and bands such as Black Sabbath, Genesis and 10CC, The Cranberries, Catherine Wheel, Ian Dury, Biffy Clyro, think Pink Floyd, Muse, Led Zeppelin, The Mars Volta, Pendulum, The Wombats, Peter Gabriel, Steve Miller and Younger Brother just to name a few. Some of these prints will be enormous high quality fine art prints of 5 foot square. The event will include interactive installations and live events for a truly memorable experience. One of the installations will feature an unseen work by Storm entitled the Scrunity Machine, where visitors will be able to recreate the visual with a picture of their own.
The philosophy behind the creation of those artworks is two-sided. They have to be something which the featured artist or band likes and relates to, while, in the meantime, still giving the opportunity for the fans and the public to interpret them freely and without restrictions.
Here is what Storm Thurgerson had to say about the album cover for Pink Floyd « Wish You Were Here »:
- « Wish You Were Here » ©Pink Floyd
“I racked my brains for good ideas as to how to represent ‘absence’ whilst being present. Perchance we stumbled upon the notion of shadows, things that indicate presence but are in themselves insubstantial or not present. These ideas became intermingled with empty gestures, maybe a handshake where people, especially in America, grip your hand warmly but don’t mean too much. From there to absent emotions and thence to people who were absent for fear of being hurt, or burnt, and from that to a person on fire. I remember the conversation with George Hardie, then the fourth unofficial member of Hipgnosis, in which I said hurt people were afraid of being hurt or burnt again and so became kind of absent and George said, “Being burnt! A man on fire!” and I said “Yes, a real man on real fire”. And there you have it- men enacting an empty gesture whilst on fire, paying no particular attention to the flames.”
For more on Storm and StormStudios visit www.stormthorgerson.com.
Disco Biscuits, "Wrapped Virgins" ©Storm Thorgerson
By Leila Nabih ([email protected])