‘The Art of Music Experience’ brings creatives behind album covers into the spotlight
Joy Feuer insists that she has always seen the sound of music and the images behind it as inseparable.
From the looks of the crowds pouring into the Art of Music Experience at the Orange County Fair this summer, it would be difficult to disagree.
Back for more, the exhibit has staying power, tapping into the nostalgia of music lovers from across the generations.
Music pumps through the building, but the driving attraction is the large-scale duplication of the images that became intrinsically linked to the feelings of those listening to lyrics sung and notes played.
“Over and over, you just see firsthand, [people are] so connected to the art and the imagery behind what they listen to,” said Feuer, the co-founder and curator of the Art of Music Experience. “The reason I always loved it, to me, it always felt like a shared experience. When I listened to albums, I looked at them, too, so it wasn’t like I just was about the music, or I just was about the art. They kind of went together, and I don’t think I’m alone in that tribe.”
When the Art of Music debuted at the fair last year, a member of that tribe reached out to Feuer to have a look at what she had assembled. John Kosh, an art director and album cover designer known as the only one to work with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who, was the interested party.
Their interaction led to nine months of working together to bring about a career-highlighting exhibit entitled, “Abbey Road to Hotel California.” Kosh, a former art director for Apple Records, eventually made it out to Los Angeles, where he would become familiarized with California sound.
“I was fascinated to see how people were reacting to what was on the walls,” Kosh said of his visit that led to his decision to collaborate with the show.
“Now, we were in the show,” he added. “I like the idea that this show may go on the road, and if it does, this is cool because I think people should understand that this is an art form. Album cover design is an art form, something that describes the music and it gives the listener joy.”
Kosh signed autographs for patrons of the Fingerprints pop-up record store on Aug. 3, taking note of a wave of Beatles fans, with a handful in line bringing items for the Who and ELO.
He showed up to the signing event wearing a “War Is Over (if you want it)” shirt, looking back on work done with John Lennon.
“That war [in Vietnam] was raving, raging,” Kosh said. “The ‘War Is Over’ started out just as a Christmas card and then turned into a worldwide campaign. It was a pretty turbulent time, 1969.”
While the covers for “Abbey Road” (the Beatles), “Hotel California” (the Eagles), and “Who’s Next” (the Who) became icons, it was Kosh’s work with Linda Ronstadt that led him to receive three Grammy awards. The titles of those albums were “Simple Dreams,” “Get Closer,” and “Lush Life.”
Kosh dished on his entry into the field, describing a changing landscape just as he was getting started.
“There was a change in the record business,” Kosh said. “No longer were the art departments churning out sort of Sinatra covers with just a picture on the front of him.
“All of the sudden, the artists after ‘Sgt. Pepper’s [Lonely Hearts Club Band],’ were getting control of how their graphics were going. That’s where as an independent, I didn’t really work for the labels. I would work for the artists, so I would listen to the artists’ music, and I became intimately involved in the structure. I’d be in the studios with them, or I would be taking demos.”
Kosh said he moved in 1973 to Los Angeles, where he found ideal working conditions.
“The work ethic was fantastic,” Kosh said. “You could run out of film, I’m talking about like movie film, at 2 o’clock in the morning, phone Kodak, and then a guy on a motorbike would turn up 20 minutes later with more film.”
As star-studded as his list of clients is in creating over 400 album covers, Kosh revealed he would have liked to work with Elvis Presley.
The Art of Music includes 50 pieces that weren’t in the show last year, Feuer said. Throughout the journey, visitors will find information included on the art directors, graphic designers, illustrators, painters and photographers that contributed to the albums being represented.
Live painting activations remain a popular feature of the show. Graphic artist and illustrator Scotty Roller, the founder of 714 Creative, was working on the likeness of the cover for No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom.”
“We see little kids glued to it, … we see all ages appreciating it, and those paintings that we’re doing live painting on are adding to the collection,” Feuer said. “All of those paintings, I work with the labels and artist managers, we get approval on everything to recreate, and they become a part of the legacy.”
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