Week #36 ('20) Art Appreciation
Welcome to my weekly Art Appreciation post, where I provide a list of some amazing album covers, single art, and random art that have come out within the past week. I’ll give you the artist/photographer/painter/magician’s name, as well as any social media or websites where you can go and check out more of their work. Click here to go back and see some other Art Appreciation posts.
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Going forward, in as many cases as possible, I’m going to be attributing the artists of any piece that I put up, which already includes this post here (seeing as that’s the entire point of the Art Appreciation) but will extend to the Fixes and whatnot. Let’s be real, I probably should have been doing this since the beginning, but I’ve come to understand the importance of this practice to the artists involved by doing these posts here, and I’m committed to making sure that they get as much shine as possible. So yeah, whenever you’re going through the Fix this week, you’ll be able to see who made all of the pieces I show you (if I’m able to get the information).
Remember, use this post to follow and subscribe to these artists; they deserve as much recognition as the musicians they are attached to.
Artist(s): lordnmf
Drill-Scott Heron (Pieces Hittin), by ANKHLEJOHN
Anyone who’s gone back to explore the roots of this genre knows of the influence of Gil Scott-Heron, the poet and damn-near inventor of this genre. His critically acclaimed album Pieces of a Man is one of the earliest examples of a “rapped” delivery in music, mixed in with some more traditional music of the time (the early 70’s; he was THAT ahead of his time) and spoken word poetry. This piece right here from lordnmf takes that original album cover and updates the formula for ANKHLEJOHN’s new project. I love how pretty much this entire idea is based around the amazing title to this album, Drill Scott-Heron, affecting not only the sound of the record (a NY Drill record from ANKHLEJOHN is completely bananas on the surface) but also the composition of this album cover. The text is identical (with a bit more color to it), and the portrait of ANKH is a direct homage to Gil’s. The only difference is that this cover is an illustrated cover, such a cool aesthetic that brings this idea to life in a way that a traditional photo couldn’t. For an album that is by far the furthest stylistic departure from his usual music, the fact that his face is so calm (and that they reference one of the most easy-going artists/albums of all time) and tranquil is both hilarious and badass.
lordnmf's Instagram/lordnmf’s Twitter
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Artist(s): Elvia Lozada
ALLEY MUZIK, by Pro Zay & TimePieceTracks
I absolutely love older cartoons, and by old I mean like OLD old. Leave out the overtly racist bullshit of ‘40s/’50s cartoons, it’s satisfying just watching the drawings come to life in ways that modern animation just can’t match with all of it’s fancy computers and digimuhtized pictures. There is a warmth, playfulness, and highly unique nostalgia looking at images like these, a trend that has been furthered by the hit-success of the video-game Cuphead. I’m not sure if that’s where the inspiration for this piece came from, but anyone out there who loves the art style in that game as much as I do can appreciate the art-style in Elvia’s piece here. The completeness of the scene is amazing, the alleyway being like a place in fiction where Pro Zay and Timepiece beat the shit out of you, a place that you can tap into by listening to the music. These characters are so sick; they are all I think about whenever listening through this album in terms of visuals, which means that Elvia has done her job and then some at creating a world for the music to live in. I mentioned in the intro that sometimes it’s hard to place where an album cover comes from… but it’s rare indeed whenever the artist doesn’t even have social media! That’s what we’re faced with here, with Zay and TimePiece commissioning art from someone who has really no online presence. I’ve directed you to both of those guys’ Instagrams for someone to follow in this case, but keep the name Elvia Lozada on your mind. I hope that we can get some more AMAZING art from this talent in the future. I copped a CD for this one because I need this cover on my wall.
Pro Zay’s Instagram/TimePiece’s Instagram
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