One of the pleasures of owning a physical LP is its aesthetics, the value it gives the owner in having that piece of music related to the tangibility of its worth. This series “Cover Art” explores one of the author’s obsessions connected to music- how an artist epitomizes musician’s vision through visuals, or explicates it to the extent of carrying its own flag separate from the music.
Museum of Arts and Design’s Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities gather attention since its opening this June not only due to wide collection of works in the exhibit which are, in their own respect, “otherworldly” beautiful; pieces that challenge human sensibilities through visual representations of imagine worlds and alternative visions of this world, but also because of a figure currently gaining notoriety among music fans due to his recent work. When Bon Iver showed to the world the cover of his soon-to-be released (not self-titled!) Bon Iver, Bon Iver, Gregory Euclide owned us.
Ironically named “Untitled,” this intricate, astonishing work graces the cover of Bon Iver’s third record and not in any way bears quality to be titled as such. Due to Euclid’s admitted dislikeness to flat paintings, he made this “alive” cover using dirt, moss, geranium, pencil cones and even snow. Actually, most of his recent output have been installations and meant to be a continuous piece where the owner has to nurture the art and even at times have to water it.
Being one of the first to listen to the record, in an interview with myloveforyou he said that the cover for this LP and for the single “Calgary” (and presumably the sleeves) are all made specifically upon Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver lead singer) request.
Working as an art instructor in a high school in Minnesota since 2001, he took his Master in Fine Arts in Minneapolis College of Art and Design back in 2008. He did more than five solo exhibits and in David B. Smith Gallery in Denver twice. According to him, Smith supports his vision of cultivating a public space, and a progressive one, for his work. And this he considers one of his best assets apart from innumerable exposure in publications and varied collections.
His love of the land, the outdoors and the place he grew up in Wisconsin shows in his work. In Bon Iver, Bon Iver, it seems he has made a map of a town, from a childhood memory he cherishes or a reflection of the future, only he knows. But upon listening to the record, the mind travels in this lands; by and by with bare hands and feet and later the entire experience of Gregory’s dirty, otherworldly beautiful universe, and at this time it can be ours, too.
Follow his Bon Iver album documentation here.
Filed under: Bookish Selves/ Artsy Dizzy, Bon Iver, Cover Art, Gregory Euclide, Who made Bon Iver's cover art?
