Storm Thorgerson

		THE ART OF STORM THORGERSON interview by Christine Natanael/images courtesy of Ed Cutler & Storm Thorgerson
		LINKS: takenbystorm.us click here for photo gallery of storm's work
For as far back as I can remember, I have been enraptured by album cover art. In the days before the small format of the cd, the 12” vinyl album ruled the world...and with it, the large format of its surfaces readily covered with images to alternately expand and warp your mind. (Then there was also the double album...but that's a whole other story...) Over and over I was inexplicably drawn to certain images, even before I knew who he was, I was mesmerized by the work that came from the mind and the team of one man: Storm Thorgerson. Storm Thorgerson is the artist behind images synonymous with identifying the pop culture of the 70's throughout and into the 80's, 90's and into the 21st Century. Creating visually beautiful and interesting art, Storm's work has been featured on a variety of singles, album and CD covers, as well as posters. He is the author of several books, including Mind Over Matter, Walk Away Renee, the Album Cover Album series, Eye of the Storm and 100 Best Album Covers.
Life began for Storm Thorgerson in 1944 in Potters Bar, Middlesex. He went to school at Summerhill Free School and then Brunswick Primary, Cambridge. His secondary education was at local grammar Cambridge High School for Boys. Storm earned a BA Honours in English and Philosophy from Leicester University (63 - 66) and finally an MA in film and TV from the Royal College of Art, London (66 - 69).
In 1968, Storm and Aubrey Powell (Po) formed "Hipgnosis," a graphic design studio specializing in creative photography. This creative company predominately worked within the music business designing the album covers for rock ‘n’ roll bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Black Sabbath, 10cc, Paul McCartney, and Peter Gabriel, amongst many others. Applying his creativity to moving images, Storm formed Green Back Films with Po and Peter Christopherson in 1983. Despite producing numerous music videos for the likes of Paul Young, Nik Kershaw, Robert Plant, Big Country and others, the company was not to last and imploded in 1985.
	In 1985, undeterred, Storm went solo and continued directing music videos. His direction for the Pink Floyd video "Learning to Fly" won the best director award at the American Billboard Awards. Branching out, Storm began directing commercials too. His direction for the Tennants' commercial "One Great Thing" won The Golden Rose in Scotland. Storm's work extended into documentaries, such as the two-part "Art of Tripping" for Channel 4 in 1993, which explored the connections between artists and drugs, and an hour long science documentary "Rubber Universe" for Equinox. The following year, Storm directed for Pink Floyd six short films to be screened through the duration of their world tour.
Storm Thorgerson continued creating and producing album covers for Pink Floyd, Anthrax, Alan Parsons, Ian Drury, The Cranberries, Ween, The Catherine Wheel, Phish, The Mars Volta and many, many more. Storm Thorgerson is now 60. He has one son, Bill, with his first partner Libby and is now married to Barbie who has two children. They live in North London. The images shown in the photo gallery are representative of the first exhibition, this one in London, of Storm's artwork since his stroke at the opening night of his Paris exhibition last year. Currently, there are plans to bring the show to venues in the United States in such cites as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
CHRISTINE NATANAEL: How did you come upon the decision to reproduce these photos as silkscreen prints as opposed to another medium? STORM THORGERSON: In order to get the best quality. Silkscreens are individually controllable and also shift emphasis away from plain photo quality, which is in some ways is secondary to the idea.
CN: Obviously, as an artist, you listen to the music prior to designing an image for the album. When I am reviewing an album, I have a process or "ritual" if you will, that facilitates my creative writing process. Describe your process or ritual prior to your creative photographicprocess--the listening, sketching, choosing location, choosing camera format and film, choosing photographer (if it's not yourself,) etc. ST: Listen. Listen again. Talk with musician. Listen. Read lyrics. Listen with colleagues. Talk with colleagues. Scribble notes. Listen again. Talk. Sketch. Scribble. Sketch. Refine sketches, at which point idea/vision becomes consolidated. Illustrate more carefully and figuratively and present to musician… If he agrees, we execute, and that’s another whole ritual. Then we complete/do artwork, and that’s a third whole ritual. CN: What were the criteria you used to determine which images would appear in the exhibition? ST: Ones I liked. CN: What were you like as a child? ST: Very grown up. CN: Were you always driven by the visual medium, and what do you recall being the earliest visual or image that captured your imagination? ST: I think films at Saturday morning minors, especially serials and Tarzan. CN: When did you decide you wanted to attend the Royal College of Art, and did you immediately pursue film/tv there or another medium? ST: After seeing Fellini on acid--aged 17--fancifully thought I wanted to make films and whilst at college doing a degree in English I decided on RCA. CN: You make great use of perspective, composition, light, shadow, and movement, bringing to mind works by Man Ray, M.C. Escher, Magritte, Picasso, and Dali, among others. Which artists/painters/photographers have influenced you the most? ST: Your list is pretty good, plus Kandinsky, Juan Gris, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and a load of others. CN: How have newer technologies, computer-based as well as photographic, changed the way you and your team envision a project, as well as helped or hindered your creative process? ST: Hasn’t greatly effected the creative process, but helps with artwork, especially 'comping,' and sometimes permits greater choice when shooting, but equally promotes laziness. CN: Do you feel, that because you were friendly with Roger Waters and Syd Barrett prior to your career and theirs, that these bonds of friendship allowed you a greater degree of creative freedom on works done for Pink Floyd as opposed to those done commercially for others? ST: Not necessarily, rather the mindset of Floyd was not dissimilar and allowed freedom of realization, nor were they preoccupied with celebrity or sales, nor were they initially very narcissistic, also allowing greater freedom of expression. CN: Do you think that computers and Photoshop, making it easier for anyone to cut and paste and "create," have diminished the power of images created today as opposed to the way you work? ST: Some computer imagery is same-y, and some not. I prefer the computer in my head to the one on my desk. CN: Which do you find more fulfilling, the "non-moving" medium of album/single art or the "moving" medium of concert film? ST: PASS CN: What is the most unexpected thing that has ever happened on one of your shoots? ST: That it works at all. That the idea looks good in the flesh. (Storm also threw in a a couple extra tidbits for you readers:) ST: Led Zeppelin -In Thru The Out Door dust jacket was, I think, an idea from the band. It came from the brush stoke on the front cover. ST: Favourite Image – Can’t say out loud, might upset all the other images… CHEERS, STORM