Tuesday, August 10, 2010

the Gift of the Mogwai

howdy! i've been so excited about being a part of this incredible 3G show, but, long story short, it has come during a time of great artistic (and professional?) turmoil as i muddle through the cliches of "what am i doing" and "should i just throw in the towel" etc etc booh-hoo. point being, my pieces for the 3G show aren't typical for me, at great risk (comes great failure), but i used each film as a jumping point to try something drastically different (from each contribution as well), and despite my hesitance to submit them, at best, they really have pulled me out of a hole and helped me get my groove back, and for that i am eternally grateful.

when i think of Gremlins, my first thought is of Mogwai, the name of inarguably the most influential modern instrumental post rock from Scotland. since my first love, pipe dream, and bulk of current freelance work is elaborately packaged vinyl records, i thought, "wouldn't it be awesome to make a fake record for Mogwai?"

i actually went on ebay hoping to score a 7" from the Glasgow mega-snakes, and in turn actually found TWO story book records from childhood of the film in question! even better! my goal was to pay tribute to the incredible and adorable keyboard scene, as well as pay homage to the gestural illustrated blue-note jazz LPs of the 50s and 60s, using only colors found on a Gremlin

here is the "final" inside its plastic sleeve:
the back:
and the inside, which contains a bonus abstract Gremlin made of felt to safely house the precious vinyl tales of the Gremlins, as well as add some tactile feedback to the whole experience:
the labels, as they are, with far better illustrations than i could do:
the entire package will be spread out and in display in a frame specifically made to eventually house a 12" LP. the idea being that if someone purchases it, they can, and should, remove it, play it, and house it in their own record collection, AND have a frame they can use for other vinyl treasures. that the art comes from removing it all, constructing it, enjoying it, experiencing it, and doing more than just tacking it on the wall

7 comments:

Bobby O'Herlihy said...

This is cool man! Very different idea and different approach to the whole thing, kudos, the whole package looks great.

miranda said...

uh, this is really nerdy but,
how did you do your type?
is that all hand painted on the back of the record? AWESOME

Mukpuddy said...

This is awesome dude!

Derby said...

Cool stuff, neat idea!

pw! said...

thanks everyone, i really appreciate it!

Miranda, it's totally hand painted, but if you get in real close you can see i have embarrassingly shaky hands sometimes. the "invisible" white especially. i used a bottle of Higgins "russet" color, if that helps

i also rekindled my love affair with old timey ink nibs because i thought the, how should i say, "less assured" line quality would better match the homage to the old jazz covers. also, i could totally compensate for my shaky hands!

Chogrin said...

Oh Peter, you never cease to amaze in how you will approach each project. genius!

Kasey Tararuj said...

when i first saw this it was only at a glance. and when i finally came back to it, i realized it was gizmo with the keyboard and that it was all about music. gizmo's singing is one of my favorite parts of the movie and i love that you took that and made an actual record. very cool idea. not to mention i've been a fan of the band mogwai for a while, so all around awesome job!

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