Storm Thorgerson: Right but Wrong

In a time where CDs are gradually being relegated to the bottom of bargain bins and vinyl has resigned itself to musty record shops and vintage fairs, it seems that the fate of the album artist has been sealed. But after visiting the Idea Generation’s latest exhibition, Storm Thorgerson: Right but Wrong, a retrospective of one of the most iconic and recognisable album artists, it’s clear that album art is far from extinction.

After delving into my father’s surprisingly good record collection at a young age and discovering the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, their iconic album covers like The Dark Side of the Moon and Back Catalogue have all decorated my various bedrooms over the years. While I must admit I didn’t know the artist’s name at the time, you would have to have been living in the proverbial bargain bin not to recognise any of Storm Thorgerson’s images.

From Pink Floyd to The Mars Volta, Black Sabbath to Muse, this exhibition has an impressive selection of Storm’s back catalogue, including a whole section dedicated to revisionings of The Dark Side of the Moon to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of what has been voted the best album cover ever.

A deserved title, I believe. While this may be one of Storm’s most infamous covers, the real art lies in the stories behind the images themselves. An avid refuser of the manipulative powers of Photoshop, one of the most amazing, and at times almost unbelievable, facts behind the images is that he does this for real. As in, those beds on the beach in Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason were actually there. All 800 of them on a beach in Devon. The huge stone heads on The Division Bell cover are actually in a Cambridgeshire field.

For me it is this element of reality and familiarity that makes the subversion and descent into a frankly surreal world all the more fascinating. Looking at the images, hung in a wonderfully haphazard way, these once familiar landscapes are distorted beyond recognition and populated with painted and gloriously deformed characters straight out of the subconscious.

Just as Storm is never one to be confined by tradition, the pictures themselves refuse to be confined to their frames as branches emerge from the wall, water leaks from the frame and mysterious eyes scatter themselves around the gallery. Not an inch of the gallery is left untouched by Storm’s surrealism with even the steps leading the gallery’s balcony being infected with creative purpose.

With Storm’s own eloquent narrative to accompany the images, we are treated to a direct insight into the wonderfully bizarre and enticing workings of the artist’s mind in addition to some unique installations inspired by the album covers, notably Led Zeppelin’s Presence and Muse’s Absolution.

Suspend your disbelief for a while and experience Storm Thorgerson and his real life Dali-ism as it was intended. And as far as the death of the album cover, I raise my somewhat dog-eared Pink Floyd poster in opposition and challenge anyone who says album covers are not art to check out this unique exhibition.

Storm Thorgerson: Right but Wrong is on until 2 May at:

Idea Generation Gallery
11 Chance Street
Shoreditch
E2 7JB

Admission is free.

Image: Pink Floyd ‘Back Catalogue’ © Storm Thorgerson. Courtesy of Idea Generation Gallery