{"id":974200,"date":"2019-12-29T10:19:29","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T17:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=931865"},"modified":"2019-12-29T10:19:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T17:19:29","slug":"vaughan-oliver-pixies-album-art-designer-dead-at-62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/vaughan-oliver-pixies-album-art-designer-dead-at-62\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaughan Oliver, Pixies\u2019 Album Art Designer, Dead at 62"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vaughan Oliver, the graphic designer whose art adorned the cover of the Pixies<\/a>\u2019 albums and whose work became synonymous with the 4AD record label, has died at the age of 62.<\/span><\/p>\n

Graphic designer Adrian Shaughnessy, who co-edited the book Vaughan Oliver: Archive<\/em><\/a>, first announced<\/a> Oliver\u2019s death on Twitter, noting he \u201cdied peacefully today, with his partner Lee by his side.\u201d The Pixies also confirmed Oliver\u2019s death. No cause of death was provided.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vaughan Oliver RIP pic.twitter.com\/EWs62C74P6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PIXIES (@PIXIES) December 29, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAs a youngster me and a mate of mine would show off to each other \u2013 reading the NME<\/em> with a copy of Frank Zappa, or Pink Floyd under our arms. I was a working class lad from a dull town in county Durham, there was no real culture, my parents were not really interested in anything unusual \u2013 everything I was getting was through record sleeves. it was a democratic way of discovering art. the local record shop was an art gallery for me,\u201d the British-born Oliver told Design Boom<\/a> in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

After studying graphic design in university, Oliver connected with indie label 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell, who recruited Oliver and photographer Nigel Grierson\u2019s 23 Envelope studio to give the label\u2019s catalog a cohesive look. The partnership spanned six years and resulted in album covers for artists like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Modern English and This Mortal Coil. <\/span><\/p>\n

Following Grierson\u2019s departure from 23 Envelope, Oliver would begin what became his most memorable partnership as the official art director for another 4AD artist the Pixies, a collaboration that would span from the band\u2019s 1987 EP Come On Pilgrim<\/em> (\u201cThat hairy man<\/a>. I thought that was Vaughan Oliver. I don\u2019t know if it is or not,\u201d Kim Deal recollected in the Pixies oral history Fool the World<\/em>) through the recently released LP Beneath the Eyrie<\/em>, including his iconic album art for 1988\u2019s Surfer Rosa<\/em> and 1989\u2019s Doolittle<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oliver told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2009, when the Pixies\u2019 retrospective box set Minotaur<\/em> was released, \u201cMy starting point would always be the music, reading the lyrics, talking with the band. The images that [Frank Black] painted with his lyrics really struck a chord. His work is full of fantastic imagery that always appealed to me, and those were ideas I was trying to reflect with the packaging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA cover should work as an entrance door that invites you to cross it. But the cover most people have talked to me about isn\u2019t the one for Surfer Rosa<\/i>, but the one I did for Doolittle<\/i>. If I\u2019d gotten a pound for each person who ever told me they decided to study graphic design because of that cover,\u201d Oliver told O Magazine<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know how to explain why it has become such an iconic and admired cover. I guess it\u2019s because it seems to hide an enigma. And, besides, the mystery is respected. In fact, the whole visual inspiration comes from the lyrics of the song \u2018Monkey Gone to Heaven,\u2019\u201cIf man is five \/ Then the devil is six \/ Then God is seven,\u2019<\/i> also very mysterious.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oliver\u2019s notable covers also include the Breeders\u2019 Last Splash<\/em> and that album\u2019s respective singles, Lush\u2019s Split<\/em>, TV on the Radio\u2019s Return to Cookie Mountain<\/em>, Bush\u2019s Razorblade Suitcase<\/em> and a collaboration with David Lynch for 2011\u2019s Crazy Clown Time<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to design sleeves as a kid. Record sleeves are ephemeral and I always wanted to make them more than that. It might sound pretentious but I really wanted to make a mark. Put more effort into them than was I was supposed to and make the artwork timeless,\u201d Oliver told Design Boom. \u201cNow I realize though that the artwork can\u2019t be timeless because of its connection to music. The music the artwork contains will always take you back to a certain time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaughan Oliver, the graphic designer whose art adorned the cover of the Pixies\u2019 albums and whose work became synonymous with the 4AD record label, has died at the age of 62. Graphic designer Adrian Shaughnessy, who co-edited the book Vaughan Oliver: Archive, first announced Oliver\u2019s death on Twitter, noting he \u201cdied peacefully today, with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-974200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 06:15:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}