ART OF MUSIC AT SECRET PROJECT ROBOT

All Posts,event — Dan on July 19, 2007 at 11:01 pm

I’ve contributed some records to an art show taking place over the next month in lovely non-colonial Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Apologies to those not in the NYC area. The show is called Art of Music, A Show of Handmade Record Covers, but it’s really more then that. The curators wanted to explore the relationship between collectors and their records, but mainly just wanted to show off some cool packages. When they initially asked if I had anything to contribute, I could only think of 2 or 3, but when they explained further that it would include not just hand-painted sleeves, but hand-printed, or even just cool sleeves, or packages with neat stuff thrown in, anything to make it special, something more than just a normal boring printed record sleeve. (NOT that there’s anything wrong with 4 color offset lithographic printing technologies, not at all!)

Anyway, I spent some time in college doing silkscreen posters and even took a letterpress class after college, so this stuff has always fascinated me. You can find out the specifics of the show at the Secret Project Robot website, and their entire press release is included below, but I figured I’d share a bit about what I leant out.

This is basically the coolest thing ever. I’ve been a big Gary Panter fan since my mom bought me Read Yourself Raw when I was way too young for it. In addition to his amazing comics, his work designing Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and his tons of record covers, he put out a few cool records of his own. In 1981, backed by the Residents, he released this single, Tornader to the Tater b/w Italian Sunglass Movie. The music is interesting, but what’s really cool is the sleeve folds out to a 28 X 20 inch poster. And this isn’t a rare record. I have 3 of them, bought at a few bucks each. Do you know how expensive a limited edition Gary Panter poster from 1981 would cost? I don’t, probably more than 2 dollars. 1 of my 3 copies is mounted in the living room. The other two are at the Secret Robot show.
Gary Panter official site

2 single sleeves printed by Bruce Licher of Savage Republic. He really pioneered a certain style of printing on cardboard during the 80s, and must’ve gotten attention early on, to go from printing underground releases like 100 Flowers and Party Boys to the above Scritti Politti sleeve. His style became a standard in indie-rock circles and seemed everywhere in the 90s, especially in Chicago where Fireproof press did those Tortoise, Rachel’s and Stereolab sleeves. A few years ago at the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial I saw an entire wall of his work and was blown away. Even if it did become a bit of an indie-rock cliché, beyond the cool factor of letterpress printing on cardboard, his design was always fantastic, especially when it fit the style of his band so well.
IPR fan site
IPR shop on eBay

I can’t really show you much more than that, I can’t find pictures online of some of the other records, and my actual copies, well they’re on some wall at some art “space” somewhere. Other stuff I shared were a few Homosexuals related releases, mostly silkscreened except for L Voag’s Move single, which was hand painted. I’m hoping Michael Goodstein has leant out his copy so we can compare. Also the 3 Tea Set singles, not hand painted, but filled with all kinds of ephemera—stickers, flyers, posters and a tea bag which I either misplaced, drank or never had in the first place. I vote for the latter.

Here’s the full-on press release:

SECRET PROJECT ROBOT PRESENTS:

ART OF MUSIC
A Show of Handmade Record Covers
July 21st-August 18th

Opening Saturday July 21st 7pm to 10pm
With Allison from Awesome Color and Zach from EX MODELS as DJ’s
www.secretprojectrobot.org

Art of Music pays tribute to those who appreciate, collect and make handmade record art. It emphasizes the care in producing “a total work of art” in which the music becomes part of a synthesis including visual and audio representation in regards to style, fashion and the underground. The show features hundreds of handmade, original, and limited edition Record, tape and CD covers, from various artists, collectors, labels and bands- spanning across a variety of eras, genres and styles.

With work from Lightning Bolt, Paper Rad, Scritti Politti, 100 Flowers, Dan Selzer/Acute Records, Kayrock Screenprinting, Social Registry, Carlo McCormick,Troubleman, Hanna of Little Cakes, Barry London, Bill Bronson, Joe Show of WFMU, Erik Z., War Slut, kara bohnenstiel,USA is a Monster, Sonic Youth, NINJA, black dice, Gang Gang Dance, Vietnam,Oneida, EX-Models, Silt Breeze Records, Skull flower, Neil Hamburger, Mikey Wild, The Triple-C, Endometriosis, Dead C, Mike Goodstein, Allison Awesome color, Diego, Casey of EAT Records, and many, many more

Through out the modern era music has tended to follow, at varying degrees, two paths, the mainstream and the underground. The latter tends to speak to a set of ideals and beliefs about the direction of subculture. Though it comes from different political and social ambitions underground music ranging from early jazz to punk to experimental noise has always depicted a necessity for change. Thus making music an equalizer, a language in which the “hip” from varying styles can communicate their recognized dissatisfaction with the status-quo. But, beyond the music, there is a particular aesthetic associated with the underground, be it silk screening, xerox copies, brown bags, hand drawn, letter pressed- there is a sense of love put into the work- not just the music but the entire work of art, the fashion, the show.

Gesamtkunstwerk-or “a total work of art” was a term coined by Richard Wagner, while describing his dissatisfaction with the turn of the century opera scene. In his mind it was sadly lacking all the parts needed to fully move the viewer to catharsis, he imagined that a Gesamtkunstwerk would take the musical, visual, and performance aspects into synthesis.

The term was also used by the Vienna Secessionists who objected to the conservatism of mainstream art and wanted to create objects outside the confines of academic tradition. Their style is known for it’s attention to detail and ornamentation that kept to the idea that “to every age its art and to art its freedom.” Making them a forerunner of the underground movements that altered history through out the twentieth century.

In the Art of Music Secret Project Robot emphasizes the totality of the scene. The idea that a group of artists, musicians, collectors, labels and viewers, take time to create, find, and purchase music that is also art that also speaks to a particular aesthetic of style and people- and a desire for more. It is representative of a group that appreciates the time and effort it takes to make each piece by hand.

The Art of Music celebrates that one may purchase a record containing original art by many famous artists and musicians for affordable prices- make collecting part of the the Gesamtkunstwerk, and the underground.

Secret Project Robot is an installation and performance centered experimental art space that believes in creating a supportive environment which functions outside the usual commercial sphere where artists are free to experiment, create, and develop styles that aren’t contingent upon their ability to sell.

210 Kent Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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4 Comments »

  1. Sounds like a cool show Dan. For anyone who is interested, Bruce Licher is still doing his thing out in Arizona, and he’s a hell of a nice guy. He did some stuff for us back when I was with Setanta…

    Comment by Tim B. — July 20, 2007 @ 9:10 am
  2. Oh my god, that IPR shop… I just died and went to heaven. (And I have a fair amount of that stuff, but there’s always more…) I second Tim’s comment that Bruce is a fantastic person… His work is what inspired me to learn letterpress!

    I’m going to be in NYC in August… I’ll definitely try and make it to the show!

    Comment by Andrea — July 20, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
  3. COol Post Dan. A little off topic but I was wondering if you wanted to do an exclusive mix for my blog. ANything goes musically. Let me know I would love to host it. Peace

    Comment by DJ BWYSE — July 20, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
  4. Hey…sounds cool, maybe if I can get to it! I’m so behind on stuff I need to do, just did my first Viva shows in years, and have been promising myself I’d get these dance mixes done forever.

    Comment by Dan — July 20, 2007 @ 8:31 pm

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