Beck's Music Inspired Art's photostream

It is well known that art stays relevant through the constant evolution of ideas. With this in mind, we have taken our ongoing collaboration with cutting edge artists to a new level this year with the ‘Music Inspired Art’ campaign.

The album cover has always been the musicians’ canvas, and in its heyday, an outlet for art, social comment and experimentation. So we've commissioned ten influential artists to ‘Re-Imagine’ the covers from some of the most iconic albums from the past four decades, using the music as inspiration.

For over 20 years, Beck’s has been much more than just a beer. We've championed talented artists without compromise, remaining in constant contact with the contemporary art world. We've has given outstanding artistic talent a truly original canvas to work on - the label. Over the years the Beck’s bottle has been the canvas for art heavyweights such as Gilbert & George, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, and Jake & Dino Chapman to name but a few.

The final pieces from all of the artists are revealed here, and there will also be a host of engaging activities and events around the exciting 2009 Beck’s ‘Music Inspired Art’ campaign including the forthcoming announcement of who will be behind this years ‘Art Labels’…

We hope you like it, and it has left you feeling inspired, as we're now handing this project over to the design community. These albums were chosen from a list of 100, created from Pitchfork's "Album of the Decade" lists. There are 90 albums left "uncovered" - with your help, we hope to finish the set!

Head over to our Music Inspired Art - The 100 Cover Project Group for details on how to get involved.

"Redesigning the sleeve for a classic album you love seems like the easiest and most desirable of briefs at first glance. With that love however comes a thousand fixed associations, memories and images that settle on your blank 12x12cm page as pencil is put to paper, all of which seem too precious to shake off. Reaching the final artwork for my redesign of The Smiths seminal “The Queen is Dead” was a lengthy, and somewhat ruthless, process of distillation through which I tried to capture what I consider to be the essence of an album which is funny, ferocious and heart breaking - a sense of romance, fragility, beauty and preservation within an image that was bold and iconic.

Music in general provides a huge inspiration and is constantly playing whilst I work. Of late I have been listening to : Nina Simone, The Good The Bad & The Queen, Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”, Fleet Foxes, Jeff Buckley at Sine, Miracle Fortress, Ry Cooder’s “Paris Texas” soundtrack, Mice Parade, Bob Dylan, Silje Nes, Dirty Three, Leaves on Fire, Belle and Sebastian and "The Complete Motown Singles Volume 1 : 1959 – 1961.""

Hellovon

"What really drew me to re-imagining Let It Be was the backstory and turmoil which surrounded it creators at the time of recording. It's an atmosphere that clings to the cover. Gone is the swirling freedom of Revolver, the colour of Sgt Pepper or playfulness of Abbey Road. Each Beatle has divided themselves from the group and occupied a solo corner. In my reinterpretation I wanted to extend the time period these snapshots were taken in, drawing influences from their solo careers, and suggesting that, with time, those self-created barriers would fade - even if they would never play together as a group again.

And purely from an artistic angle, it's always an interesting exercise to work from recognizable models. Unlike drawing fantastical creatures the audience have a yardstick to measure imagery to. So I enjoyed the challenge of depicting John, Paul, George & Ringo but in a new form, and striving for a balance between a believable likeness and personal expression.

Plus I like drawing big noses, and they all have a great collection."

Rexbox

"I've chosen Return to Cookie Mountain because it's one of my favorite albums, it's got the thickest moods and the songs are very catchy without being sugary. The music from this album makes me think about weird places, like a party on a beach at 6 pm with a giant storm at the horizon, lots of slow motion, sexy moves and mojitos - it's hard to explain but it makes you feel very good. That's what I tried to translate in my illustration, being there, on a beach, in dark water, facing a giant stranger.

I don't how to qualify the style of TV on the Radio. I don't really want to put them into a box so I'll leave it like this: I listen to a lot of different style of music, from funk to hard rock and hip hop. The music definitely as a huge influence on my work - 90% of my illustration are about music and when I'm not drawing I'm playing music, that's why I had a great time doing this illustration."

McBess

"I chose Purple Rain for many reasons. First of all it's an Epic record. Secondly, because Prince used a lot of hand drawn illustrations in his album and single artwork, but this sleeve was photographic, so I thought it was a good one to cover, and still fit in with his music catalogue - but just bring it into 2009. I did some research into the album, and discovered the original test pressing had a different track list, so I wrote them as the alternative version on the back. I chose to do both the front and back cover because I wanted to experiment with the type, a common trait on Prince sleeves. Ultimately I wanted to make something that Prince could be up and be like, “awesome, maybe I should re-release the album with this as the sleeve”.

All music that I enjoy, fuels me when I am working, whether its drawing or design, or painting a 50ft mural, it's something that keeps me focused throughout. I could be listening to bands on my label, or classic albums anything from Stevie Wonder to Deftones."

Kate Moross